


The Adventures Of Shkodran And His Dragon

by LowInHighSchool



Series: what goes together better than dragons and footballers? [2]
Category: Football RPF
Genre: CRACK BASICALLY, Crack Treated Seriously, Dragon AU, Gen, M/M, this is a serious fic, trust me - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-30
Updated: 2018-07-03
Packaged: 2019-01-26 17:43:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 36
Words: 22,581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12562748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LowInHighSchool/pseuds/LowInHighSchool
Summary: Just as it says on the tin ;) (this is what happens when I don't get enough sleep)





	1. In Which Shkodran Loses His Dragon

**Author's Note:**

> Blame Sarah for this! I had a request on my fanfiction blog that asked for something sad and i couldn't think so i asked her and the first thing she said was 'mustafi loses his dragon'. She knows basically nothing about football, I just talk about him a lot! Did something else for the request but i was bored so why not write this as well?
> 
> Dragon's name was made up by Sarah as well, it's an anagram of mustafi ;)
> 
> Enjoy :')
> 
> EDIT: I changed the title ehehehe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shkodran loses his dragon.

Morning light breaks through the curtains gently rousing Shkodran from sleep. His eyes open slowly and he glances lazily around the room. 

Something seemed off.

He can’t pinpoint what it is but something just doesn’t seem right. A look at the clock tells him it’s only 8am, a good time to get up considering he had training in a few hours.

“Suifautm?” He calls but there’s no response. Unusual. Normally the little dragon would be there, waiting for him to wake up.

Ah, so that’s what seemed strange then.

Suifautum was only a small dragon so Shkodran allowed him in the house, so long as he didn’t get glitter everywhere. Sure, there had been a few incidents which had involved Shkodran cleaning late into the night but overall things were going well. He liked the little dragon for company and it seemed the dragon liked him too.

Shkodran walks downstairs and puts the kettle on, rubbing sleep from his eyes. Whilst it’s boiling he opens the back door.

“Suifautm?” He calls. He listens for a while but there’s no response. There are a few glitter trails that look fresh so he’d probably been there sometime overnight at least.

He’s not too worried though. It had happened before where Suifautm had flown off somewhere overnight, lost track of time and come back late the next morning. Shkodran had had him for 5 years now and although they’d only been in London a year, the dragon knew his way home.

He leaves the back door open and goes to pour himself a cup of coffee. He drinks it watching the news, glancing towards the back door occasionally hoping to see Suifautm. 

By the time 11am rolls around he’s ready to go to training but there’s still no sign of the little red dragon. He’s beginning to panic at this point. Where on earth was he? Maybe a friend had seen him. He takes out his phone and dials Granit.

“Hey” Granit says when he answers, it sounds like he’s in pain.

“Are you ok?” Shkodran asks.

“Hangover”

“Typical. Have you seen Suifautm?”

“Oh erm, I meant to tell you…”

“What? What’s happened?”

“I borrowed him. I meant to tell you” Granit says.

“Why?”

“You know how he breathes glitter? Well I wanted him for my party”

“Oh”

“I was going to ask but I forgot”

“It’s fine, I was just getting worried”

“He’s perfectly happy, I even fed him for you”

“Thanks” Shkodran says.

“I’ll bring him to training anyway”

“Thanks, I’ll see you there”

“See you there”

Shkodran hangs up, relieved. His dragon wasn’t missing after all. He puts his shoes on and heads to the car to drive to training.


	2. Look Out, Look Out, There's A Dragon Thief About

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Granit steals the dragon :o

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hehehe enjoy ;)
> 
> Note from Sarah : GLORY TO THE DRAGONS!

Granit was jealous. 

He could count on one hand the amount of times that had happened before but now, he was definitely jealous.

He wanted a dragon of his own.

There was part of him that wanted to ask his friend where on earth he’d acquired his dragon from but he worried that would be too personal a question.

Having Suifautm at the party the other night had been fun. The little dragon was just so friendly, and dare he say cute. Maybe he could borrow him again, they could just hang out and do whatever dragons normally do. 

What did dragons normally do? He doesn’t know but there was only one way to find out.

In the dead of night he pulls on his hoodie and slips out of the house, making his way to Shkodran’s. He smiles to himself, this was the best plan he’d had in a long time. 

When he gets there he walks down the back alley of the houses, counting them down until he’s sure he’s at Shkodran’s house. He double checks the coast is clear before hoisting himself up over the fence. He sees the dragon, this was the right house then. Suifautm looks startled but Granit approaches him cautiously, holding his hand out.

“It’s ok, it’s only me” He says, trying to keep his voice down “You know me remember”

Suifautm sees who it is and something rings a bell, he was a friend. He gently nuzzles Granit’s hand.

“Come back with me” Granit says, Suifautm looks at him inquisitively “We’ll have fun, I have your favourite food in and we can do anything you want”

He throws a piece of chicken over the fence.

“Go get it” He says, Suifautm happily flies over. Granit quickly climbs after him “Come on, it’s not far”

Granit gently strokes the dragon’s head as they walk together, Suifautm making happy chirping sounds.

“We’re here now see” Granit says when they reach his house. Before he can open the door Suifautm breathes glitter all over the front door. Granit laughs “I take it you’re happy then”

He opens the door and they go inside.

“What d’ya wanna do?” He asks, Suifautm tilts his head to the side “It’s too late to go to the park, we could watch a film?”

Suifautm makes more chirping noises. Granit goes to the kitchen and gets a bowl of popcorn for him and more chicken for the dragon before returning to the living room where Suifautm’s all curled up on the couch.

“Here” Granit says, placing the chicken in front of him. Suifautm sniffs it and happily eats half “I think Shkodran already fed you today, oh well”

Granit goes to the TV and puts a film on, he doesn’t know what the little dragon will like so settles on a comedy. He then joins Suifautm on the couch, the dragon curls up once again with his head in Granit’s lap.

 

By midday, Shkodran’s convinced he’s lost his dragon again. A quick scan round the garden shows footprints in the glitter trails.

“Granit” He sighs.

He puts his shoes on and makes the walk to Granit’s house in 15 minutes. When he gets there he sees glitter all over the door. So it was Granit who took him. 

 

Granit’s woken to knocking on the door. He looks around the living room. He must’ve fallen asleep. He glances down and Suifautm’s still sleeping in his lap, he smiles. What he wouldn’t give for a dragon of his own.

Carefully moving the sleeping dragon, he goes to answer the door. It’s Shkodran.

“You stole my dragon” He says.

“Borrowed your dragon”

“Can I have him back?”

“Sure” Granit says, leading him inside.

“I’m here” Shkodran says to the dragon who’s just waking up “You must’ve tired him out”

“We were watching a film”

“Not Jurassic Park I hope, it really freaks him out”

“No, just some comedy”

“Good. If you want to borrow him all you have to do is ask”

“Thanks”

“We’ll have to get you a dragon of your own”

“I’d like that, where do you get them from?”

“There’s a lady back in Germany, she breeds them”

“I had no idea”

“Yeah it’s pretty low key, but we can totally get you one”

“Thanks”

“We’ll go next week when we have a few days off”

“Sure, thanks”

“No problem, we better get going anyway. I promised him I’d take him to the park”

“Sure, I’ll see you tomorrow then”

“See you tomorrow. Come on Suifautm” Shkodran says, gesturing for the dragon to follow him. Suifautm jumps off the couch and curls himself round Granit’s legs.

“I’ll miss you too” Granit says, stroking him.

“Come on, let’s go home”

They walk to the door and Granit sees them out. Suifautm’s happy to be outside, he stretches his wings and flies down the street.

“Don’t go too far” Shkodran says, jogging to keep up with him.

Suifautm makes his happy chirping sounds and pauses a little way down the street. Shkodran reaches him and they walk the rest of the way home.


	3. In Which Granit Acquires A Dragon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Granit finally gets a dragon of his own!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lol i feel i should change the name to 'the adventures of shkodran, granit, and their dragons' but i already changed it once and i cba :p
> 
> thanks to those who left kudos, i'm glad you enjoyed mine and sarah's random moment of madness!
> 
> If you want to see what Musti's dragon looks like, Sarah's started to draw him! http://taulant-xhaka.tumblr.com/post/166955248113/taulant-xhaka-sarahs-drawing-me-the-dragon-from 
> 
> lol can you believe i'm getting fan art? Also I found a pattern and my mum said she'll sew me a dragon :')
> 
> i'm also just starting to realise how mad this fic is...oh well, it's kept me entertained today :p

Safe to say Granit was excited. Today was the day he was getting his dragon.

He and Shkodran had made the trip to Germany the day before. Suifautm was back in England with Mesut, both had been a little hesitant at first-Mesut was still wrapping his head around the fact his friend had a real live dragon-but soon they got used to each other and Shkodran trusted his friend to take care of his pet, or companion, as they prefer to be known.

Granit had barely been able to sleep with the anticipation of it all but even so was wide awake early that morning.

“Come on, get up” He says to his friend who appears to be still asleep in the other bed. The hotel they were staying in wasn’t fancy by any stretch, not that they needed it to be.

“5 more minutes” Shkodran says, rolling over.

“Fine”

Granit gets dressed in double quick time.

“It’s been 5” He says.

“Fine” Shkodran slowly sits up and gets out of bed.

“Morning”

“Morning, excited?”

“Very”

“No wonder, I remember when I first got Suifautm”

“What time are we meeting your friend?” Granit asks.

“She said to call in any time”

“Great, so we can go now”

Shkodran laughs at his enthusiasm.

“At least let me get dressed first” He says.

“Sure”

Granit sits on his bed and messes around on his phone until finally his friend’s ready. Granit’s too excited to even consider breakfast so they stop off at a café and get coffee to go. After a short walk into the town to get a taxi, it’s a longer drive out into the countryside. Granit glances around, trying to spot dragons.

The taxi eventually stops in front of a normal looking farm house. Shkodran pays the driver and they get out.

“Calm” Shkodran says.

“I am”

“Good, let’s go”

They walk up to the door and Shkodran knocks. A cheerful looking lady answers a few moments later.

“Shkodran!” She says, hugging him “it’s been a while”

“It has, I’ve just been so busy”

“I know, you’re a big star now”

“I don’t know about that”

“So modest. This must be Granit” She says, extending a hand for Granit to shake.

“Nice to meet you” Granit says.

“You too, call me Rosemary”

Granit nods and Rosemary leads them through the house and out the back.

“How’s Suifautm?” Rosemary asks Shkodran.

“He’s doing well, he’s sleeping better now”

“That’s good, he always had trouble”

It’s only then Granit sees them. Dragons. Everywhere. He can barely believe it.

“Wow” He says.

Rosemary laughs.

“I was talking to Shkodran, he told me a bit about you and I think I have the perfect one for you” She says, leading them over to a turquoise dragon, a fair bit taller than Suifautm.

“Wow” Granit repeats.

“His name is Kaxah, he’s friendly don’t worry” Rosemary assures him.

“Hey Kaxah” Granit says, offering a hand to the dragon. Kaxah sniffs it and after a few seconds nuzzles his head against Granit’s hand.

“He likes you” Shkodran says.

“It’s time for them to be fed” Rosemary announces “You can feed Kaxah and I’ll do the rest”

She goes back into the house and appears a few moments later with a bucket of meat.

“Just put some in your hand” She says.

Granit holds some meat out and Kaxah happily eats it out of his hand.

“That’s it” Rosemary says “They need to be fed twice a day, but Shkodran can tell you more”

Shkodran nods.

“I’ll leave you to get acquainted” Rosemary says before walking off to feed the rest.

“What do you think? Did she make the right choice?” Shkodran asks.

Granit glances around at the other dragons.

“I think she did” He tells his friend.

Kaxah nestles up against Granit’s side, making chirpy noises. For a big dragon he had the sweetest voice.

“Definitely the right choice” Granit decides.

“How much do I owe you?” Granit asks when Rosemary reappears. 

“Oh there’s no charge” Rosemary tells him “So long as I know they’re going to a good home”

“Are you sure?”

“Of course”

“Well thanks”

As they have training the next day, they decide to leave soon after. They both thank Rosemary. At first Kaxah seems a little hesitant but after some gentle persuasion and chicken he happily goes with them.

 

A few hours later and they arrive back in England. Granit and Shkodran stand nervously outside Mesut’s house as they wait for Kaxah to show up. They’d taken the plane and the dragon had flown himself. It is said dragons have a very good sense of direction and are actually quite intelligent. 

Even so, it’s a relief when he shows up soon after.

“Good boy” Granit says, stroking the dragon’s head. Kaxah chirps happily.

Shkodran knocks on the door and Mesut answers a few moments later.

“You’re back” He says.

“We are, meet Kaxah” Granit says proudly.

“Nice to meet you” Mesut says, extending a hand which Kaxah sniffs. “Come in of course”

They all head inside to the living room which is covered in glitter.

“He got a little excited I see” Shkodran says “Sorry about that”

“It’s fine” Mesut says “Shouldn’t take me too long to clean it”

“I can help”

“Don’t worry about it, you must be tired after your trip”

“Thanks. Where is he?”

“In the back”

“Suifautm!” Shkodran calls. Soon they can hear the familiar chirping and he flies into the room “We’re back” 

Suifautm happily curls himself around Shkodran’s legs.

“I missed you too” Shkodran says.

It’s then Suifautm notices the other dragon, more specifically the size of it, he moves to hide behind Shkodran.

“It’s ok” Granit says “He won’t hurt you, this is Kaxah”

Suifautm hesitantly peaks out and sniffs the other dragon and sees that yes, he is actually quite friendly.

“See, I told you” Granit says.

Soon it appears Kaxah is getting tired. They had had a long trip after all. It appears he’s almost falling asleep.

“We better get going” Shkodran says.

“Sure, I’ll see you all tomorrow then” Mesut agrees.

“See you, and thanks again”

“It was no problem, he’s quite cute really”

“He is”

“And nice to meet you Kaxah”

Kaxah chirps sleepily.

“We’ll be home soon” Granit tells him “And then you can sleep”

This seems to perk the dragon up a bit.

“Bye” Granit says as they head for the door. He tells his dragon where he’s going and the two dragons set off home.

“I’m getting tired now too” Shkodran says.

“It has been a long day”

“Come on, let’s go home”

They wave goodbye to Mesut and set off down the street.


	4. In Which They Rescue Taulant From A Wild Dragon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wild dragons aren't as friendly as tame ones as Taulant's about to find out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually wrote this chapter before the last one because i'm weird :p
> 
> Thanks to Sarah for giving me the idea for it :p

Taulant had a problem.

And maybe to some people it would be a nice problem to have. To some people. You see, he had a dragon. But that wasn’t the problem. The problem was it was a wild dragon. Quite unlike the tame dragon his brother had, as he was coming to find out.

It had walked in yesterday when he was hanging washing up. He didn’t even realise there were wild dragons around here, he hadn’t seen one in all the years he’d lived here but yet, there was a dragon in the hall.

At first he hadn’t been too worried, Granit had one. How bad can they be? He only realised the extent of his problem when he’d tried to leave the house. The dragon had sharpened its claws and hissed. 

He’d tried again later but that had just resulted in more hissing and a rather nasty looking scratch across his forearm. 

So here he was, trapped in his house by a wild dragon.

If it wasn’t happening to him he might even be able to laugh about it but no, it was him and that sucked.

For the tenth time that morning he walks to the landing and peers down. Yep, the dragon’s still there, pacing around and scratching up the hard wood floor. 

“I have training soon” He says, the dragon just looks at him and hisses.

Taulant sighs and retreats back to his bedroom. Getting food wasn’t really a problem, he’d managed to sneak past to the kitchen a few times already. It was just leaving that was the problem.

Why him? If it had happened to his brother Granit might have been able to deal with it. 

That was an idea, maybe Granit did know how to deal with it. He was all the way over in England but still, maybe he could give him some tips or something.

He feels relieved. It looks like his problem will be sorted. He reaches into his back pocket for his phone and dials his brother, praying he’s in.

“Hey” Granit says when he answers.

“I have a problem”

“What?”

“I have a dragon”

“You got one too?”

“No, it’s a wild dragon, it came in off the streets”

“I didn’t realise they had them in Switzerland”

“Me neither but it’s in my hall” Taulant says.

“Oh”

“Can you help?”

“Maybe, I don’t know anything about wild dragons”

“What about Shkodran then? He might know”

“I’ll ask him”

“Thanks”

“I have training soon, I’ll ask him then”

“Thanks”

“I’ll call you later”

“Brilliant”

“Have you tried feeding it chicken? They seem to like it”

“No, I’ll have a go” Taulant says.

“Good, it might help”

“I’ll see”

“I better go but I’ll talk to you later”

“See you”

Granit hangs up and turns to his dragon.

“We better get going” He says. He only hopes Shkodran knows of some way to help his brother.

Kaxah chirps happily and nudges Granit’s hand with his head. Granit strokes him before going to put his shoes on. Then he heads to the car and drives to training with his dragon happily flying above the car.

Granit immediately walks up to Shkodran at training.

“I have a problem” He says.

“With Kaxah?”

“No, my brother has a dragon”

“He got one too?”

“No, it’s a wild dragon in his house”

“Wow that is a problem” Shkodran says.

“Do you know how to help?”

“Not really. Did he feed it?”

“I suggested that”

“I don’t know apart from that.”

“Can you ask Rosemary? She might know something”

“Good idea, I’ll phone her tonight”

“Thanks”

They get changed and join their teammates for training, their dragons watching on from the sidelines. They’d become a common sight around London Colney recently and their teammates had grown fond of them.

 

By 9pm that evening they had a plan.

Shkodran had phoned Rosemary and she’d suggested if the wild dragon saw tame dragons it might help tame it a bit, or the tame dragons could usher it out of the house. Dragons were clever creatures after all.

So it was decided, they’d take their dragons to Switzerland. It could work. They only hopes it does.

“We could leave on Sunday” Shkodran suggests on the phone to Granit.

“Will we be back in time?”

“Should be, I don’t imagine we’ll be there for more than a day”

“Cool, I’ll look up flights”

“Thanks”

 

Sunday came around quickly, much to Taulant’s relief. He was getting tired of the dragon now living in his hall. It had even been going into the kitchen at night and eating his food.

It’s only when Granit calls to say they’re outside he realises he’ll have a problem, getting them into the house. The dragon was still guarding the door.

“Let Kaxah talk to it” Shkodran suggests.

“Can you help us?” Granit asks his dragon who tilts his head in understanding. He moves closer to the door and makes chirping sounds and some hissing noises which takes Granit by surprise. 

Much to his relief Taulant notices the wild dragon backing down a little and it’s only then he feels safe to attempt to open the door. He moves closer and reaches for the latch. In one swift movement he opens it.

“Thank god” He says when he sees the two outside. He leads them inside. “There it is”

Kaxah and Suifautm immediately go over to the wild dragon and let loose with all manner of noises. The humans can just watch.

“Will it work?” Taulant asks.

“I hope so” Granit says.

Soon the wild dragon is backed out of the house. To make sure the job is done Kaxah and Suifautm chase it down the street.

“Thank you” Taulant says.

“No problem” Granit says “I’m just glad it worked”

“So am I”

“You did well” Shkodran says to his dragon, gently stroking his head. Suifautm chirps and curls up on the floor. Kaxah does the same.

“They’re probably tired after that” Granit says.

“I don’t blame them” Shkodran agrees “We should let them rest”

“I have chicken in for when they wake up” Taulant remembers.

“Thanks” Granit says.

They’re all getting quite tired after all the drama. They head to the living room to drink tea and watch a film.


	5. In Which The Dragon's Save The Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Having a dragon can be useful sometimes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i procrastinated writing this so badly haha i had the beginning planned out all day but i just wasn't writing omg but at least i'm posting it now :')
> 
> enjoy!

Dragons were useful creatures. 

Shkodran and Granit had come to know this well. They were a good companion and easy to talk to, even though they couldn’t talk back the look on their face told you they understood.

But it’s not until one day they truly understand just how useful dragons can be.

Shkodran and Granit are out with their teammates for a team night out, just to a restaurant, nowhere fancy. Of course Kaxah and Suifautm had gone with them, the two were basically inseperable from their dragons and really, who could blame them?

Much to their delight the two dragons got on well. Very well in fact, one time they’d even caught them curled up napping together.

Most public places were ok with dragons, including this restaurant much to the relief of Granit and Shkodran, they didn’t like leaving them home alone, especially at night. 

As they walk into the restaurant the dragons get a few stares, of course they do, some people even take pictures. They weren’t that common in London anymore. But soon everyone goes back to their meals and leaves them be.

The team orders their meals and Shkodran and Granit order some chicken for the dragons which the restaurant is only too happy to provide. So yes, the evening’s going well. The team always make a fuss of the dragons which they love.

Sometime later Shkodran’s phone starts ringing so he excuses himself to go outside and answer it somewhere quieter. Suifautm chirps as if asking to go with him.

“Just stay here, I’ll be back soon” Shkodran says.

Suifautm tilts his head in understanding and goes back to playing with Kaxah and a few team members.

It’s quite quiet outside and Shkodran’s grateful for a moment’s peace. There’s only one more person outside, a man. He looks familiar. Shkodran glances at him a few times as he’s on the phone but eventually shakes off the feeling he knows him.

“See you later, bye” He says into the phone before hanging up.

“Quit staring” The man says.

“Sorry, I thought I knew you”

“You don’t. Back off”

“Hey I’m not trying to start anything here” Shkodran says, wishing Suifautm had come out with him.

The man appears to square up, blocking his entrance back into the restaurant.

“Can I pass?” Shkodran asks “I’m sorry, I thought you were someone else”

The man cracks his knuckles but appears to consider.

“Fine, but I better not see your face around here again” He says.

Shkodran nods and jogs back inside.

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost” Granit jokes.

“It’s fine”

Suifautm seems to sense something’s up as well because he curls up around Shkodran’s feet under the table. Shkodran strokes him and tries to calm himself down a little.

By the time they’re leaving the restaurant he’s almost forgotten about the incident until he and Granit step outside the restaurant and see him again. Shkodran tries to keep his head down but the man’s spotted him.

“I thought I told you not to show your face again” he says, grabbing Shkodran by the collar of his shirt, pushing him against the wall.

“What’s going on?” Granit asks, confused.

“I’m sorry, we just want to get home” Shkodran pleads.

“I don’t think so” The man says, going to punch Shkodran.

Thankfully for Shkodran dragon’s have lightening quick responses so before the man knows what’s happening Suifautm’s jumped on his arm and is biting him and Kaxah’s squaring up to him.

“What the fuck?” The man says, trying to shake Suifautm off “Dragons? What the hell?”

“That’s right” Shkodran says, feeling braver now.

“Fucking hell” The man seems shaken, he drops Shkodran and runs down the street.

“Bloody hell” Shkodran says. The dragons curl around him protectively. 

“Are you ok?” Granit asks.

“Yeah, I’m fine”

“Good. What was that about?”

“I looked at him the wrong way”

“Ah, we should get home before he decides to come back”

“Good idea. Thanks guys” Shkodran says to the dragons.

They don’t leave his side the whole walk home.


	6. In Which The Dragons Go To A Match

Dragons liked football.

At least it seemed Suifautm and Kaxah did. They always seemed enjoying going to training with their humans. And as they’d discovered, they liked playing with footballs in the back garden.

So that’s how Shkodran gets the idea to take them to a match. He’d taken Suifautm a while ago when he’d first got him and didn’t want to leave him on his own but he hadn’t been for a while. He messages Granit with his idea and he agrees.

So it’s settled, they’ll take them to their next match.

“You’re coming with me to the match” Shkodran tells his dragon. Suifautm flaps his wings and makes chirping noises. Shkodran reaches to stroke him.

 

On Saturday Shkodran and Suifautm arrive at the stadium early. Shkodran had been worried it might be too busy for his dragon but he seems to be loving it.

Most stadiums had a special space for dragons, just in case any fans wanted to bring theirs so that’s not a problem. When Granit and Kaxah arrive, they show the dragons to their space.

“We’ll see you later” Shkodran says, stroking Suifautm.

The dragons seem to understand they’re leaving and look sad.

“It’s ok” Granit says “You’ll see us soon I promise, you’ll have fun”

He strokes Kaxah before he and Shkodran head to the changing room.

“Will they be ok?” Granit asks.

“They should be, we’ll keep an eye on them”

 

As the match gets going, Shkodran and Granit can’t help but glance in the direction of their dragons occasionally but they seem fine, much to their relief. They relax a bit and focus on the game.

It ends 2-0 to Arsenal much to the squad’s delight. As they stay on the pitch to applaud the fans, Suifautm and Kaxah fly over to them, chirping excitedly as if to say ‘well done’.

“Thank you guys” Shkodran says “Did you enjoy it?”

More chirping.

“I take it you did then” Granit laughs.

Kaxah meanwhile had found a ball. He knocks it over to where Granit, Shkodran, and Suifautm are.

“You want to play?” Granit asks.

Kaxah knocks the ball to his feet.

“I guess that would be ok”

“It should be fine” Shkodran agrees.

They spread out a bit and kick the ball to each other, the dragons using their heads and wings.

“That’s it” Shkodran says “He loves playing”

“He does this a lot?” Granit asks.

“Sometimes, it’s cute”

“It is, I never thought to let Kaxah play with a ball”

“You should”

“Yeah I will”

Suddenly, Kaxah bites the ball. Shkodran and Granit laugh.

“Someone’s a little excited” Shkodran says.

“He is”

Kaxah tries to pass the ball to the other dragon but it’s deflated. He looks sad.

“I think it’s time to get changed” Granit says.

Kaxah curls around his legs.

“We can play more at home” Granit promises.

This seems to perk the dragon up a bit.

“Come on” Shkodran says “Let’s go home”


	7. In Which Kaxah Gets Injured

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> poor dragon :(

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> enjoy :')

The arsenal squad had been busy lately and Granit felt bad. Being so busy meant he had hardly any time to spend with his dragon, let alone take him out. They’d played in the back garden a week ago but that was it.

It didn’t seem Kaxah minded as such, he seemed happy as ever, rushing to greet Granit when he got in. They’d spend most of their evenings curled up in front of a film or listening to music but lately Granit noticed his little dragon was getting restless.

One day he has training but Kaxah is pacing around, attempting to fly in the house and getting glitter everywhere.

“You can go out if you want” Granit says “I’ll have to lock the door but I’ll be back soon I promise”

Kaxah seems excited by this idea and goes to the back door. Granit opens it and the dragon goes outside.

“I’ll be back in a few hours” Granit says, locking the door. They’d done this before once or twice and Kaxah had always been alright in the past. Even so, he can’t help but worry.

 

It’s a relief when Granit gets home later although Kaxah’s not at the back door. He’s not too worried though, he hadn’t been out for a while so he probably wanted to stretch his wings. He sets about making dinner.

He’s just finished when he hears whining at the back door. He puts his plate down and goes to see. It’s Kaxah. Granit’s relived. He opens the door to let the dragon inside.

It’s only now he notices the dragon’s bleeding.

“What happened?” Granit asks. The dragon only whines and curls himself around Granit’s legs.

He grabs the nearest thing, a teatowel, to try and stop the bleeding. It seems to be helping a bit but what to do? He decides to call Shkodran. He reaches into his back pocket and takes his phone out.

“Hey” Shkodran says when he answers.

“Kaxah’s hurt”

“How?”

“He has a cut on his wing”

“Is it bad?”

“A little, it’s still bleeding”

“I’ll be right there”

“Thanks”

“No problem, see you soon”

“See you, what do I do now?”

“Just keep it covered”

“Sure, bye”

“Bye”

Granit hangs up and feels a bit better. His friend was coming round, he’d know how to help. Kaxah seems a little distressed, trying to shake Granit off him.

“It’ll help” Granit promises. He lifts the teatowel off and sees the bleeding has basically stopped. Even so, it’s a relief when Shkodran arrives 15 minutes later with Suifautm.

“Thanks for coming” Granit says, leading them inside.

Suifautm immediately goes over to the injured dragon and snuggles up to him.

“They’re cute” Granit says.

“They are. Let me have a look at it”

Shkodran walks over and looks at Kaxah’s wing.

“It doesn’t look too bad” He says “Let me just clean it”

He gets a bowl of water and a teatowel and gets to work gently cleaning the wound. Kaxah hisses at him.

“It’ll help I promise” Granit says “It’ll be over soon” he strokes the dragon’s head.

By the time Shkodran’s done, Kaxah seems to have relaxed a little.

“Thank you” Granit says.

“If it gets worse, there’s someone I know we can take him to” Shkodran says.

“Thanks, I hope we won’t need to though”

“Me too”

“Thanks again”

“No problem, you helped me out with Suifautm that one time”

“I did”

“We better get going anyway, I’ll see you tomorrow”

“See you”

Granit and Kaxah show them out and decide to have dinner.


	8. In Which Granit and Shkodran Realise Their Dragons Are In Love

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to Eafay70 for the idea for this :p
> 
> Enjoy :')

True Granit had come to know his dragon well over the past few months but there were still sometimes he wished he knew what Kaxah was thinking.

Right now for example, he was just sitting staring out the back door, whining occasionally.

“Well I just fed you so you’re not hungry and we went to the park before” Granit thinks out loud “I wish you could just tell me what’s wrong”

It’s driving him mad so eventually he calls Shkodran. Maybe he’d know how to help.

“Hey” Shkodran says when he answers.

“Hey. Something’s up with Kaxah”

“In what way?”

“He looks sad”

“Oh”

“I fed him and took him to the park but he’s just sitting there staring out of the window”

“You don’t think he’s lonely do you?” Shkodran suggests.

“He has me”

“Maybe he misses other dragons”

“Could be”

“There’s only one way to find out, bring him round. See if seeing Suifautm cheers him up”

“Good idea, we’re on our way”

“See you soon”

“See you”

Granit hangs up and goes over to the dragon.

“Come on, we’re going to see your friend” He says, Kaxah immediately sits up and looks a lot brighter. Maybe that had been the issue then. 

This is almost confirmed when they get there and Kaxah rushes inside, straight up to Suifautm.

“I think you were right” Granit tells Shkodran.

“I think I was too”

“Has Suifautm been acting weird too?”

“He was the other day. They see each other a lot, they probably miss each other when they’re not around”

“Yeah could be. They do seem close, they’re such good friends”

“Maybe there’s more to it than that” Shkodran says.

“You think…you think they’re in love?”

“It could be possible, look at how close they are”

Granit turns to see the dragons snuggling up close together.

“I think you’re right” He says.

“We’ll give you two some privacy” Shkodran says to the dragons. He and Granit go to the living room to talk and watch TV.

Soon it’s getting late and as they have a match tomorrow Granit realises it’s probably time for them to get going.

“We better go home” He says to his friend.

“Sure”

But when they walk through to the hall they see the dragons curled up together, asleep.

“Kaxah?” Granit asks.

The dragon glances lazily at him before shutting his eyes again.

“I don’t want to disturb them” Granit says.

“He can stay here tonight if you want”

“I’ll miss him but sure, it’ll make him happy”

“I’ll bring them both to the match tomorrow”

“Thanks, see you tomorrow Kaxah”

The dragon continues to sleep.

“Bye” Granit says.

“Bye”

Shkodran sees him out. Granit would miss Kaxah tonight but he seemed so happy around Suifautm and he didn’t want to ruin that. Oh well, he’d see him tomorrow. He puts his headphones in and begins to walk home.


	9. In Which Suifautm Saves The Day Again.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Good little dragon :')

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's bonfire night tomorrow but there are fireworks going off already! Can they chill please?
> 
> Enjoy :')

Shkodran wasn’t having a good day.

He doesn’t know why, it was the first match back after his injury tomorrow so he should be excited but instead, he’s nervous. Very nervous in fact. Training had gone well but even so, what if he messed up? He’d been receiving all manner of messages on Instagram and twitter from fans wishing him luck and saying how much they missed him. What if he let them down?

He tries just to forget about it, he might not even be playing tomorrow but it’s all he can think about. He puts his head in his hands and tries to fight the anxiety.

He knows he should really call someone and talk out his fears but he doesn’t want to bother anyone. Granit would be with Kaxah, Mesut would be with his girlfriend, Sead would be with friends. Everyone’s busy.

Suifautm rolls a ball over to his feet and chirps. Shkodran looks at him.

“Maybe later” He tells the dragon and feels bad but he really wasn’t in the mood for playing at the moment. 

The dragon seems to understand and goes off to play by himself.

Shkodran’s really struggling to breathe now. Great, he hadn’t had a panic attack for years, since he’d been at Everton in fact. The impending panic attack is making him panic even more. He tries to go over breathing exercises he’d found a while ago. They don’t really help. He leans back on the couch and shuts his eyes, trying to focus.

It’s definitely getting worse. He really can’t breathe and the anxiety is overwhelming his brain.

Suddenly he feels pressure on his legs. He looks and sees Suifautm there, looking up at him with concern in his eyes. Shkodran tries to smile to assure the dragon everything’s ok. Suifautm curls up against his stomach and it sounds like he’s purring. Shkodran reaches to stroke him. He focuses on the dragon for a moment and soon his head’s clearing a little and he can breathe.

“Thank you” He says to the dragon. Suifautm chirps and rubs his head against Shkodran’s hand. 

Suddenly the dragon takes off flying leaving Shkodran trying to calm himself down still. When the dragon reappears a few seconds later he’s carrying something in his mouth. He drops it on Shkodran’s lap and Shkodran can see it’s his anti-anxiety tablets. He hadn’t needed them for years. In fact he’d forgotten he had them.

“Thank you” He says, stroking the dragon. He takes one of the tablets with water and strokes his dragon.

It had been Rosemary’s idea. 

When she’d heard Shkodran had panic attacks she suggested Suifautm might be able to help in some way.

It hadn’t been bad until he’d gone to Everton but by then Suifautm had seen him had enough to know what to do. Shkodran was grateful to the little dragon.

Suifautm jumps on the table and nudges Shkodran’s phone towards him.

“You think I should call someone?” Shkodran asks. He is feeling much calmer now but still, that might be a good idea “Want me to call Granit so you can see your boyfriend?”

Suifautm chirps.

That settled it then. Shkodran reaches for his phone and dials Granit.


	10. In Which Kaxah Is Scared

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Poor dragon :(

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Update of the picture of Musti's dragon that Sarah's drawing: http://taulant-xhaka.tumblr.com/post/167125221908/more-progress-on-the-dragon-sarahs-drawing-for-me
> 
> Enjoy :p

Autumn was definitely here.

Granit doesn’t know where the year’s gone but all of a sudden it’s November and it’s cold. He’s had the heating on everyday for a week now. It doesn’t seem Kaxah minds the cold too much although the other day he found him curled up under a blanket.

But then the rain starts.

It’s late in the evening and Granit’s just checking his emails when it starts. He just hope it stops before the match tomorrow. It’s not until he’s considering going to bed when the thunder starts. He jumps, he hadn’t been expecting that.

He finishes off on his laptop, closes it, and puts it away before heading upstairs.

“Kaxah?” He asks, he hadn’t seen the dragon for a while.

He eventually finds him in the bedroom, curled up in the bed with just his head poking out.

“Are you ok?” Granit asks.

Thunder sounds and Kaxah buries himself deeper under the covers.

“Are you scared of the storm?” Granit asks. The dragon just whines. “Oh”

Granit sits on the bed and strokes his dragon, hoping to offer some comfort.

“It’ll be over soon I promise” He says.

Thunder sounds again and Kaxah lets out a screech.

“Hey it’s alright” Granit says, he gets under the covers himself and Kaxah curls up to him “I won’t let anything happen to you”

Soon it seems the little dragon relaxes a bit. Granit’s relieved. It is getting late though so maybe he should go to bed. But first, a shower. He hadn’t had chance to have one this morning. He checks and sees Kaxah’s asleep so he carefully gets out of bed and heads to the bathroom.

He feels bad leaving Kaxah though so tries to be as quick as he can although thankfully when he’s back in the bedroom the dragon’s still asleep. Granit quickly changes into his pyjamas and gets into bed.

Kaxah curls up to him again but stays asleep. 

“It’ll be gone by morning” Granit assures him.

It seems the storm’s fading already anyway. Granit shuts his eyes and tries to get to sleep.


	11. In Which The Dragons Are Worried

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Poor Granit :(

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If I've just jinxed Granit for the next match I'll cry
> 
> Enjoy :')

Because the dragons had seemed to enjoy going to the match, Shkodran and Granit had started to take them quite often. They were already a big hit with the team and they were starting to become popular with the fans. Someone had even made them a banner.

So today that’s what they were going to do. Go to another match. Shkodran and Granit still worried about leaving them on their own to watch but much less than the first time.

Except this match is different.

It’s going well with Arsenal winning but halfway through the second half another player collides with Granit. Hard. He lands awkwardly on his left leg. The game’s stopped and his teammates gather round. He tries to stand up but he’s in too much pain. The medical staff are called over.

Kaxah had seen what happened. He doesn’t understand fully but he understands his human’s in pain. He immediately flies over with Suifautm following close behind. He perches next to Granit and chirps, as if asking him if he’s alright.

Granit’s happy to see his dragon he has to admit. He strokes him as he waits for the medical team to come over.

When they do they get to work checking out Granit’s leg. The dragons see them and immediately get protective, hissing at them.

“No it’s ok, they’re helping” Granit assures them.

Soon the medical team have done all they can. Granit tries to stand up, his leg still hurts but it’s definitely not as bad anymore. Even so, it’s decided he’ll sit out for the rest of it.

The dragons follow him over to the bench where they sit and watch the rest of the match.

When it’s finished (Arsenal won. Easy) Shkodran walks over to Granit and the dragons.

“How’s your leg?” He asks.

“Better thanks” Granit says “It’s not hurting so much anymore”

“Good, and at least you had company”

“I did, thanks guys”

“We should get changed”

“Sure”

They head to the changing room with the dragons following them. Normally the dragons waited outside whilst they got changed but today it seems they’re reluctant to leave Granit. They follow them inside, much to the team’s delight. 

They have to laugh when Mesut comes over to speak to them and Kaxah immediately hisses at him.

“Sorry, he’s a little protective” Granit says.

“It’s fine, did you enjoy the match?” Mesut asks, stroking the dragons.

“I think they did”

The dragons even join them in the showers, giving everyone a good laugh, especially when Suifautm shakes himself dry in the middle of the changing room.

“Let’s go home” Granit says to Kaxah when he’s done “Bye guys”

“Bye” Shkodran says.

Kaxah understands they’re leaving and nuzzles up to Suifautm before following Granit out the door.


	12. In Which Suifautm Goes To Watch The Fireworks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In honour of it being bonfire night tomorrow (Well, today lol)
> 
> Also this entire fic is longer than my undergrad dissertation so it's officially the longest thing I've ever written :o
> 
> Enjoy :')
> 
> Also I'm watching ice hockey and why are there so many breaks?!

Shkodran’s woken up to fireworks and is confused, but then he remembers the date. Ah, they’d started early then. 

“Suifautm?” He calls, hoping the dragon isn’t scared by the fireworks. 

He gets out of bed and goes downstairs to make breakfast. He finds Suifautm staring out of the window.

“Are you wondering where the noise is coming from?” He asks.

He is as it turns out, every time a firework goes off the dragon’s head snaps up to the sky.

“It’s too light to see them, you’ll see them this evening” Shkodran tells him.

That was an idea actually, there was a firework display in a nearby park. Maybe Suifautm would like to go and watch them.

He phones Granit to ask if he and Kaxah would like to come as well but as it turns out Kaxah’s scared of the fireworks. He’d been hiding in the cupboard all morning.

“Looks like it’s just you and me” Shkodran says to his dragon.

 

Later that evening they set off just before 7. The park is quite busy, which was to be expected really. Even so Shkodran and Suifautm manage to find a quiet spot. Shkodran worries that maybe seeing them up close would scare the little dragon but as they get going Suifautm seems excited. In fact he flies to get closer.

“Don’t get too close” Shkodran warns.

They’re selling toffee apples so Shkodran buys one and shares it with his dragon. Suifautm likes it as it turns out.

A few people give them second glances but for the most part they just leave them be much to Shkodran’s relief.

They go for a wander to see the rather impressive bonfire, Suifautm seems amazed by it. He just seems so excited, getting glitter everywhere, including on a very surprised child.

“Sorry about that” Shkodran says “Come on Suifautm”

 

Meanwhile Kaxah was scared still. Granit had managed to coax him out of the cupboard and onto the couch where he was sat wrapped in a blanket. The dragon still jumped every time fireworks went off.

“It’s ok” Granit says “It’s only for tonight”

The dragon whimpers and snuggles closer to Granit who strokes him.

“Shall I put a film on?”

He feels that would be a good idea, maybe it would distract him. He puts one of Kaxah’s favourites on before joining him back on the couch. Kaxah snuggles up on Granit’s knee.

They’re about halfway through the film when the door goes. Granit pauses the TV and goes to answer. It’s Shkodran and Suifautm.

“We wanted to see how’s Kaxah’s doing” Shkodran explains.

“Sure, come in”

Granit leads them inside and Suifautm immediately goes and curls up with Kaxah on the couch.

“He still doesn’t like it” Granit says.

“Suifautm loves it”

“That’s strange”

“I know, he is a strange little dragon. He likes toffee apples as well”

“Wow”

They look over at the couch and see the two dragons are cuddled up together.

“They really love each other” Granit says.

“They should get married”

Granit laughs “They’d like that”

Shkodran and Suifautm stay until it’s getting late then decide it’s probably best to go home.

“We’ll see you tomorrow” Shkodran says “Come on Suifautm”

Suifautm whines but eventually follows Shkodran to the door.

“See you” Granit says.

He sees them out and goes to see how his dragon’s doing.


	13. In Which The Dragons Get Married

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lol this took me ages :D thanks to Eafay70 for the idea!

It had started as a joke between Granit and Shkodran. A joke based on something serious. Their dragons were in love, it didn’t take a genius to work that out.

_“They should get married”_

They’d laughed it off at the time of course but the more they thought about it the more they realised that wouldn’t be a bad idea. It would be a cute gesture for a start.

But then they hit a roadblock. Neither of them knew the first thing about planning weddings, let alone a dragon wedding. They’d called Rosemary of course who’d loved the idea but wasn’t much help with the planning.

It’s not until Mesut overhears them talking about it they start to make some headway. Turns out he’s really into that kind of thing and is only too happy to help them plan.

So a few weeks later here they were, in Shkodran’s house which had all been decorated for the occasion.

Their teammates had all come down, it was an excuse to have a drink and party after all.

Shkodran smiles as he walks Suifautm down the makeshift aisle to where Kaxah’s waiting. Suifautm immediately nuzzles up to the bigger dragon. Shkodran smiles at Granit. He’s too busy watching the dragons to hear what Mesut’s saying, something or other about love.

Shkodran and Granit were both a bit worried about how the dragons would react to the vows but they both chirp in the right places.

Granit even says a few words (in Albanian of course) which the dragons seem to like.

And then it’s time to party.

The dragons barely leave each other alone the whole evening.

“I think they’re happy” Mesut says to his friends.

“I think they are too” Granit agrees.

“Thanks” Shkodran says “We couldn’t have done it without you”

“No problem, they’re happy, that’s all that matters”

They all glance across at the dragons. Kaxah’s watching on fondly as Suifautm entertains the team by breathing glitter all over the dining table.

“Everyone loves it when he does that” Shkodran says.

“It is amusing” Mesut agrees “Does he do it a lot?”

“Only when he’s excited”

Soon the dragons are getting tired, all the excitement had worn them out. After 5 minutes of searching, Granit and Shkodran find them curled up together in the living room.

“They’ve had a busy day” Shkodran says.

“They have” Granit agrees.

Soon all of their teammates start filtering out. They thank Mesut again and see them all out.

“Kaxah can stay here tonight” Shkodran says.

“Thanks, I hate to separate them. Especially now they’re married” Granit says.

“Me too”

“I’ll miss him tonight”

“I know, I’ll bring him round tomorrow”

“Thanks, need a hand clearing all this up?”

“Please”

“Sure”

They look at their sleeping dragons one last time before starting to clean up.


	14. In Which The Dragons Go To Liverpool

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The dragons go on an adventure!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to Sarah again for the idea for this chapter :p
> 
> If you want to see what a lambanana looks like, just google it. They are strange. Scousers are strange tbh! I should know, I was born in Liverpool and have been living across the water from there ever since (apparently don't sound scouse though :p)
> 
> But yeah, the lambananas were put up for like an exhibition a while ago and they just never took them down. I'm sure it started out with one, a big yellow one by one of the uni of liverpool buildings but now there are loads! Including one which looks like John Lennon...strange. 
> 
> (and then in birkenhead there used to be penguins)
> 
> Maybe it's just merseyside that's strange although parkgate has nice ice cream!
> 
> Also this fic isn't really in order any more...oops...

If there was one thing Shkodran hated, it was leaving Suifautm home alone. Unfortunately he had to do it quite a lot. Even leaving him for a couple of days was hard, let alone a week or so.

Tomorrow they would be going to Liverpool for a match, staying overnight so once again Shkodran would have to leave his dragon. He knew it would be ok, Suifautm was a clever little dragon and he’d leave him enough food and stuff. 

Even so, he felt bad leaving him and he bet Granit felt the same way about leaving Kaxah.

Suifautm always seemed to sense when Shkodran was leaving as well. And the night before he’d always act clingy, never leaving his side. When Shkodran actually left sometimes it would sound like the dragon was crying and Shkodran felt bad. Really bad.

He’d tried explaining of course, telling him he needed to-this was his job. It didn’t make leaving any easier though.

Tonight was just the same. Shkodran was in his bedroom packing and Suifautm hadn’t left him since lunchtime. Right now the little dragon was making rather distressed sounds and flying the length of the bed.

“It’s ok” Shkodran tells him “It’s only for one night, I’ll be back before you know it”

Suifautm sits on top of the clothes in the suitcase and chirps loudly.

“You know I have to” Shkodran says sadly.

The little dragon curls up.

“I don’t want to leave you either”

Suifautm looks at him as if to say “well don’t then”

“Unless” Shkodran thinks “Unless you come with me”

The little dragon sits up and flaps his wings excitedly.

“You’d like that” Shkodran says “You’ll have to behave though”

And then the dragon’s back to flying around the room again, although this time out of excitement. Shkodran laughs to himself. Maybe Kaxah would like to come too, he could keep Suifautm company during the match. Shkodran quickly texts Granit to ask and goes back to packing.

 

Granit had agreed that would be a good idea so here they were the next day in Liverpool with their dragons. They arrived in the early afternoon so after checking into the hotel they had time to look round.

Granit and Shkodran (and the dragons) looked around with Sead and Mesut. None of them knew that much about Liverpool but after wondering round for a while found themselves at the docks. It was quite a cold day, especially by the water.

The dragons were having a great time, flying ahead of the group. When they saw the water they flew above it, skimming it with their wings.

“Don’t get too wet” Shkodran calls.

“What the hell is that?” Sead asks suddenly, taking Shkodran by surprise. He’d been watching the dragons. But he looks and sees a rather strange looking statue.

“It’s a lambanana” Mesut tells them.

“A lamba what?” Granit asks.

“A lambanana, literally a cross between a lamb and a banana”

“One question, why?” Shkodran wonders.

“Who knows” Mesut says “Scousers are strange”

“They are” They have to agree.

They carry on walking, looking at the old buildings. 

Soon the dragons seem quite tired, Suifautm has curled himself around Shkodran’s shoulders and Kaxah’s whining to be carried.

“We should head back” Granit says, picking up the dragon.

“It’s getting on for dinner time” Sead notices.

“Let’s get you back then” Granit says to Kaxah who appears to be sleeping.

“They must be tired” Mesut says, looking at the dragons.

“They’ve had a long day” Shkodran says fondly, reaching to stroke his dragon.

They turn around and head back to the hotel.


	15. In Which Kaxah Gets Granit and Olivier Together

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> enjoy :')

It’s been said many times that dragons are clever creatures and they are. They could always sense things, even if you hadn’t realised them yourself.

Kaxah was starting to realise one thing, Granit was lonely. Sure he saw Shkodran a lot but what he really needed was a partner.

He’d also seen how Granit and Olivier were together, forever flirting with each other. So that solved the problem of who, now the only problem was how.

 

One day Granit’s just moping round the house. Shkodran and Suitafm were busy so here he was just sitting, flicking through the channels.

Kaxah was trying to help, prompting him to play with a ball but he was mainly just sitting. He ends up curling up on Granit’s knee and sighing in frustration. 

When Granit gets his phone out he has an idea. He sits up and uses his paw to flick to contacts. Granit goes back to Instagram but Kaxah persists.

“What are you doing?” Granit asks.

Kaxah chirps.

“You think I should call someone?”

Kaxah chirps again.

“Shkodran’s busy. You know that”

Kaxah scrolls down the contact list until he comes to Olivier’s name.

“Oli?” Granit asks “Would he want to?”

Kaxah chirps again.

“Ok then, he doesn’t have a dragon for you to play with”

Kaxah curls up again and Granit dials.

Turns out Olivier did want to see him so 20 minutes later here he was.

“Want a drink?” Granit asks.

“Please” Olivier says

“Tea?”

“Sure”

Granit heads to the kitchen to make it and Olivier sits on the couch stroking Kaxah. He was still getting used to the fact his friend had a dragon.

“He’s cute” He says when Granit comes back in.

“He is, I think he likes you”

Kaxah was curled up on Olivier’s knee, purring.

“Well I like him too” Olivier says “He’s very friendly”

“He is, he loves it when I have visitors”

Granit puts the tea down and sits next to Olivier.

“Want to watch something?” Granit asks.

“Sure”

“You can choose”

“You can, I don’t want to disturb your dragon”

“Fair enough”

Granit browses his dvd’s and puts one on before rejoining Olivier.

Olivier must’ve been tired because by the end he’s asleep. Kaxah moves over to Granit’s knee.

“You like him, then again you like anyone who pays attention to you” Granit whispers.

Kaxah chirps quietly.

“I like him too” Granit says “I just don’t know how to tell him”

Kaxah nudges his hand.

“You think I should just tell him?”

Kaxah chirps.

“I don’t know…I’m not good with that stuff”

“I think you are” Olivier says, eyes still shut.

“You heard?” Granit asks, going bright red.

“Kinda” 

“I’m sorry”

“Don’t apologise, I like you too”

“Really?”

“Yeah”

Olivier opens his eyes and sits up. He leans closer to Granit and kisses him gently causing Kaxah to chirp loudly.

“Someone’s happy” Granit says when they break apart “Is that why you wanted me to invite Oli here?”

Kaxah tilts his head to one side.

“Clever dragon” Olivier says.

“He is”

“And I’m glad he got you to ask me to come over”

“So am I”

Olivier was getting tired again so he leans his head on Granit’s shoulder and shuts his eyes. Granit moves closer and shuts his eyes himself. Kaxah stretches out and shuts his eyes as well, happy he’d managed to get them together.


	16. In Which Suitafm Gets Shkodran And Alexis Together

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just pretend Alexis and Musti are speaking Spanish...
> 
> Enjoy :')

A few months later and Granit and Olivier were settling down into their relationship. Shkodran was happy for them but he couldn’t help be a bit jealous, he wanted that with someone. Suitafm seemed to have noticed too and was trying to think of how to help.

Half of the issue was he didn’t know who. Shkodran got on with pretty much everyone in the squad. Over the next few weeks the dragon watches carefully and sees his human is quite close with Alexis. That was an idea. Now the issue was how to get them together.

He’d drop hints around the house, changing the channel to a dating show, opening magazines to pages about love etc. And finally Shkodran took the hint.

“I want to date someone too. But who would want to date me?” Shkodran tells his dragon one evening.

Suitafm flies over to the squad picture hanging on the wall and taps with his tail on Alexis.

“Alexis?” Shkodran says “You realised I like him?”

The dragon chirps and flies back to sit on Shkodran’s knee.

“Do you think he likes me?”

Suitafm chirps.

“How do I tell him?”

Suitafm nudges Shkodran’s phone over to him.

“You think I should call him now?”

More chirping.

“No, I couldn’t. I don’t know what to say”

Suitafm looks at him.

“Maybe tomorrow”

The dragon curls up on his knee and shuts his eyes.

 

“I think Suitafm’s trying to get me and Alexis together” Shkodran tells Granit and Olivier one day.

“You should let him” Granit says “You two would be cute”

“You think?”

“Yes!” Olivier and Granit say together.

“I wouldn’t even know what to say”

“Just invite him round, see what happens” Granit suggests “Suitafm could help”

“Or ask him on a date” Olivier joins in.

“That could work” Shkodran decides.

“It will, go for it” 

“Yeah, I will. In training”

“Good”

 

Even so, Shkodran was nervous. He takes Suitafm with him to training to give him confidence but even so he just can’t bring himself to go over and ask.

Suitafm kept circling the air near Alexis and landing on his shoulder causing Alexis himself to laugh. Finally Shkodran took a deep breath and went over.

“I think he likes you” He says to Alexis.

“He is cute”

“He is”

Alexis reaches to stroke the dragon.

“How long have you had him?” He asks.

“About 10 years now”

“That’s a while, you must be close”

“We are, I’m glad I have him”

“Where did you get him?”

“In germany, hamburg. There was a lady, she gave him to me”

“Lucky, I want one”

“That could be arranged”

Silence for a minute and Shkodran’s working up the courage to ask.

“Look, do you want to go out with me sometime?”

“A date?” Alexis wonders.

“Yeah”

“Sure, sounds like fun”

“Great, tomorrow at 7?”

“Sounds good”

“Sure, I’ll pick you up”

“Thanks”

Suitafm chirps happily and flies to Shkodran. Soon Wenger’s calling them over so they have to go. Shkodran feels happy he’d actually just done that. Granit and Olivier give him the thumbs up as he jogs over.


	17. In Which Taulant Comes To Visit (And Gets Covered In Glitter)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks to Eafay for the idea :D also if anyone has any ideas for this fic or anything hmu
> 
> Enjoy :')

Taulant shivers as he stands outside of his brother’s house, trying to get the key to work. He didn’t remember London as being this cold but it was freezing. Finally he opens the door and goes in. It’s cold in the house but not as bad as outside. Thankfully he remembers how to work the heating so he turns it on. 

He’s just walking back to the living room when he hears a hiss. He freezes and turns to be faced with Granit’s dragon.

“Oh it’s just you” He says, reaching to stroke Kaxah. The dragon hisses again and backs up “Hey, it’s just me remember?”

Kaxah looks at him for a minute. He did seem familiar, he approaches him and sniffs his legs. Yes, he did know him. He chirps loudly and before Taulant knows what’s happening he’s covered in glitter.

“Nice to see you too” He laughs “I wonder what time Granit will be back?”

Kaxah flies over to the calendar. Taulant looks and sees Granit had written the time of the training session on it.

“Thanks” He tells the dragon, reaching to stroke him “He’ll be back soon”

Kaxah flies out of the room, returning a few minutes later with a ball.

“You want to play?” Taulant asks “Ok then, so long as you don’t get glitter everywhere again, Granit was cleaning for hours” 

Kaxah chirps and knocks the ball to him. They happily spend half an hour or so playing. Kaxah does get excited though which results in glitter all over the hall.

 

Granit arrives back sometime later. He’s tired and cold after training and can’t wait to relax in front of the tv with his dragon and some hot chocolate.

“Kaxah” He calls as soon as he gets in but the dragon doesn’t come to meet him like usual “Where are you?”

There was also glitter everywhere.

“Kaxah?” He asks again, walking into the living room.

“Hey” Taulant says.

“Hey, what are you doing here?” Granit can’t stop the smile that spreads across his face.

“Well we have a few weeks off so I thought I might as well come and see you”

“Thanks, I’m glad you came”

“So am I”

It’s only now Kaxah flies over to Granit.

“There you are” Granit says, stroking him.

“He got a bit excited” Taulant explains.

“That explains the glitter”

“I was going to clean it up but he wanted to play”

“It’s fine, I’ll do it later”

“Sure, how was training?”

“Cold”

“Well I put the heating on”

“Thanks, I won’t be long”

Granit heads upstairs to put his stuff away and get changed. When he comes downstairs again Kaxah is curled up on his brother’s lap.

“Want to watch a film? I’m too tired to go out” Granit says.

“Yeah sure”

Granit browses his DVD’s and eventually settles on an old Albanian film. 

“Want some hot chocolate?” He asks.

“Sure”

“Won’t be a minute”

He heads to the kitchen and makes them both hot chocolate. Not to be left out Kaxah joins him and makes whining noises.

“I don’t think it’s good for you to have chocolate” Granit tells him “But you can have some chicken”

Kaxah chirps so Granit goes to the fridge and gets some out.

“Here” He says, holding it out for the dragon. Kaxah happily eats it out of Granit’s hand.

When the hot chocolate’s done Granit takes two mugs through to the living room. He presses play on the DVD and sits down next to his brother on the couch. Kaxah spends the film pacing up and down, occasionally chirping. Eventually he sits on the couch with his head on Taulant’s lap and his tail on Granit.

“He likes having people round” Granit says.

“Yes I remember”

“And he likes you, ever since the incident with the wild dragon”

“Yes I remember that” Taulant says, stroking the dragon.

“How long are you staying anyway?”

“Don’t know yet, a week maybe”

“Sure, it’s nice to see you”

“It’s nice to see you too”

By the end of the film Kaxah appears to be asleep.

“He probably tired himself out” Granit says “God knows what he gets up to when I’m not here”

“He wanted to play before”

“That explains it, I better make dinner anyway”

“I would offer to help but I don’t want to move him” Taulant says, looking at the dragon asleep on his lap.

“It’s fine, I wouldn’t want to either. He gets grumpy when he’s tired”

“I wouldn’t like to see that”

“No, last time he smashed a vase and breathed glitter all over my lunch. Anyway, is pasta alright?”

“It’s fine”

“Sure, it won’t be long”

“Sure”

Granit heads to the kitchen feeling slightly warmer now. Meanwhile Taulant stays on the couch stroking the sleeping dragon.


	18. In Which Suifatm Has A Nightmare

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> poor dragon :(

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> something i wrote on my fanfiction blog (prompt game and someone actually requested something with the dragon!!!) so might as well post it here as well :p
> 
> Enjoy :D

Alexis wakes up sometime in the early hours needing the loo. The feeling isn’t too bad so he tries to ignore it but soon it’s getting worse. He really would have to go. He sighs as he gets out of bed and stumbles to the bathroom in the dark.

It’s only when he’s finished something clicks in his brain and he realises Shkodran wasn’t in bed. Where on earth was he at almost 3 in the morning? As he approaches the top of the stairs he looks down and see the living room light was on. 

Curious, he goes down there to see what his boyfriend was up to.

“It’s ok, I’m here. I’ll look after you” He can hear Shkodran saying which only deepens the mystery.

“Shkodran?” He asks. He walks into the living room to see Shkodran on the couch “What are you doing up? It’s 3 in the morning”

“Shh, he’s trying to sleep” 

Now Alexis looks he can see Suifatm on Shkodran’s lap.

“Sorry” He whispers “What happened?”

“I think he had a nightmare. He woke me up crying. I didn’t want to wake you so I brought him down here”

“Is he ok now?”

“I think so, it looks like he’s asleep”

“Good. Poor thing”

“I know, it used to happen when I first got him. Hasn’t for a while”

“Hopefully it’s just a one off thing”

“I really hope so”

“We should be going to bed now as well”

“We should, what about Suifatm?”

“Bring him upstairs with us”

“Sure”

Shkodran gently lifts the little dragon into his arms and the make their way upstairs. 

“Can you put one of my pillows on the floor?” Shkodran asks Alexis quietly when they get to the bedroom.

“Sure”

Alexis reaches for a pillow and places it next to the bed. Shkodran then gently places the dragon on top of it before he and Alexis get into bed themselves.

“Hopefully he’ll be ok now” Shkodran says.

“I hope so”

“At least we’re here if it happens again”

“Yeah exactly”

“Night then”

“Night”

Alexis pulls Shkodran closer and they both drift off, hoping the little dragon would sleep better now.


	19. In Which Suifatm, Atom, and Humber Go To The Park

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wooo i had another idea!!...right before the match lol but i saw a replay of the goal :p
> 
> Totally meant to be finishing my friends gloves but oh well i can do that later or tomorrow :p
> 
> Enjoy :')

It had taken Atom and Humber a fair while to get used to Suifatm, just as it had taken Alexis a little time. 

At first the dogs had seemed scared, hiding behind Alexis whenever the dragon was around. But now they didn’t have that problem. When Shkodran and Suifatm came over they’d happily go to meet them and even play with the little dragon. The humans had even found them curled up together asleep on one occasion.

So yes they were getting along nicely now much to everyone’s relief. The dogs were still a little bit scared of Kaxah, he was a bigger dragon after all but for the most part everything was ok.

One day Atom and Humber are getting restless and it seems Suifatm is too.

“We should take them to the park” Alexis suggests.

“Good idea” Shkodran says, even though it’s minus 2 outside.

“Shall we go to the park?” Alexis says to the dogs who jump up and down excitedly. 

They put their shoes and coats on before finding the dogs’ toys and putting them in a bag. Alexis puts the dogs on their leads and they set off in the snow with Suifatm flying overhead.

They arrive at the park 10 minutes later and the dogs go mad to be let off their leads. Alexis lets them off and they immediately roll in the grass, Suifatm joins them. 

Alexis gets a tennis ball out and throws it for the dogs but of course Suifatm flies after it too and even beats the dogs to it. He’s too small to fit it in his mouth properly so he just sits there chirping.

“Yes you won” Shkodran tells him “Well done”

When the dogs reach him Suifatm knocks the ball to them with his head. Atom picks the ball up and runs back to the humans with Humber and Suifatm following.

“Good boy” Alexis says, taking the ball off him and throwing it again. The dogs and dragon chase it into a wooded area.

“I was thinking we could eat out tonight” Alexis says “My treat”

“That would be nice, what were you thinking?”

“That tapas place we went to that one time”

“Sounds good to me”

“Will Suifatm mind?”

“I was thinking I’d drop him at Granit’s so he can see Kaxah”

“Sure”

A few minutes later and the dogs have come back but Suifatm hasn’t.

“Where is he?” Shkodran asks the dogs, as if they could tell him.

He walks off to find his dragon and eventually finds him curled up, and he’s not alone.

“Kaxah? What are you doing here?” Shkodran asks but the dragons are too engrossed in each other to notice him.

“Kaxah? Where are you?” Suddenly a rather distressed looking Granit appears from around the corner.

“He’s here don’t worry” Shkodran tells him.

“Thank god”

“What are you doing here anyway?”

“He was getting bored so we brought him out. Oli! He’s here” Granit shouts to Olivier who was presumably somewhere around.

“Same here. By the way do you mind if looking after Suifatm tonight? We’re going out for dinner and I thought he might want to see his husband”

“Sure, just bring him round”

“Thanks”

“if we ever get them home”

Shkodran looks at the dragons curled up.

“Shkodran?” Alexis asks, appearing with the dogs who immediately back up when they see Kaxah.

“It’s ok, he’s not going to hurt you” Granit says to them.

“I was wondering where you’d gone” Alexis says.

“Sorry, I found him though” Shkodran says 

“Good”

Soon Olivier appears.

“Hi guys” He says.

“Hey” Alexis says, wondering how many more of his teammates were in the park today.

“Anyway we better get going” Granit says “Come on Kaxah”

The dragon chirps at Suifatm but flies to Granit’s side.

“We’ll be round later then” Shkodran says.

“Sure see you” Granit says.

“See you”

Seeing Kaxah had gone Suifatm flies to the dogs again.

“They do look cute” Alexis says.

“They do”

They walk out to the main bit of the park again and let the dogs and Suifatm play together for a while but soon they seem to be getting tired.

“We should go” Shkodran says “It is getting cold now”

“It is” Alexis agrees. He puts the dogs back on their leads and they head for home.


	20. In Which Shkodran Finds Another Dragon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shkodran finds a surprise in a hedge on his way to training

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just another idea i had...enjoy :')

It was a cold day but Shkodran’s car was in the garage for repairs so he’d decided to walk it to training. People had offered to drive him but he declined, not wanting them to go out of their way for him. Besides, the walk would do him good.

He sets off early, not knowing how long it would take him to get to the training ground. Suifatm of course comes with him, flying a little way along the street then circling back to his human again.

Until he doesn’t.

Shkodran looks down the street but can’t see his dragon anywhere.

“Suifatm?” He calls, trying to listen out for the familiar chirps but all’s quiet.

But as he approaches a hedge he hears quiet chirping from inside it.

“Suifatm?” He crouches down and looks and sees his dragon who hisses at him “Hey, it’s just me”

Suifatm chirps, as if offering an apology and moves aside. Shkodran can see another, smaller dragon.

“Oh” He says “Is it ok?”

The small dragon’s eyes open so Shkodran can see it’s alive. It chirps quietly in a broken voice and Shkodran can see a few cuts.

“What happened to you?” Shkodran wonders out loud.

He thinks of what to do, he couldn’t just leave the dragon here, wild or not. There weren’t many dragons in London anyway and this one was injured.

“Come on, it can come with us” He tells Suifatm, carefully lifting the injured dragon into his arms. Thankfully it seems to snuggle up against him.

He thinks of where to go. Home would be the best bet but he realises he’s closer to the training centre than home. And anyway, he was late.

“Come on” Shkodran says to his dragon “Someone should be able to help him”

They set off again and arrive at the training centre 10 minutes later, thankfully just on time.

“I was wondering where you were” Alexis says, going to kiss Shkodran. But then he sees what he’s carrying. “Another dragon?”

“I just found it in a hedge”

“Is it ok?”

“I don’t know, it’s alive at least. I’ll take it home and phone Rosemary”

“Sure”

Soon Wenger’s shouting for them so Shkodran knows he better hurry up. He quickly pops down the corridor and finds a physio who says he’ll take care of the dragon while Shkodran’s in training, feed it and clean it and so on. Shkodran thanks him and goes to get changed.

He can’t get the dragon out of his mind all session though. It seems Suifatm’s worried too, he keeps flying back into the building.

Soon the session finishes so Shkodran races to get changed. As soon as he is he’s down the corridor again.

“How is it?” He asks the physio, Mike.

“It seems better, it ate chicken and drank some milk”

“Thank you”

Now Shkodran looks, the dragon looks better now it’s been cleaned up, it’s even playing with Suifatm.

“What will you do with it?” Mike asks.

“Phone my friend in Germany. She’ll be able to look after it better than me”

“Good idea, good luck”

“Thanks, see you tomorrow”

“See you”

Shkodran picks up the smaller dragon and heads back to the changing room where Alexis is waiting.

“It’s looking better” Alexis says.

“I know, Mike fed it”

“Good. Are you going to phone Rosemary?”

“I don’t know what else to do, it seems better now but just in case”

“Good idea, and I imagine 2 dragons would be a handful”

Soon Kaxah catches sight of the other dragon, he flies over and gently licks it.

“Hey, he’s cleaning it” Granit says.

“He is, good boy Kaxah” Shkodran says.

Soon everyone’s leaving so Shkodran and Alexis decide to as well. Suifatm’s tired himself out (Dragons got tired easily from all the flying) but Shkodran had his arms full.

“I’ll carry you” Alexis says.

Suifatm seems a little hesitant at first but finally lets Alexis pick him up. They say goodbyes to their teammates and head for home.


	21. In Which Rosemary Comes To Visit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> enjoy :')

Thankfully Alexis drives them back from training to Shkodran’s house so they’re soon there. 

“Can you look after these two?” Shkodran asks.

“Sure”

Shkodran carries the injured dragon and puts it down on the coach. It chirps in a stronger voice and looks around, taking in its surroundings. Suifatm goes and sits next to it.

“I’ll just call Rosemary” Shkodran says.

“Good idea”

Shkodran walks to the kitchen and takes his phone out. After 10 minutes they have a plan, Rosemary would come over to take the dragon back to Germany. Shkodran would’ve offered to go over himself but they were so busy at the moment.

“That’s sorted” He says when he’s off the phone, walking into the living room.

“Good. What did she say?”

“She’s getting the next flight over”

“Wow, she must really care about dragons”

“She does”

“Anyway do you have any chicken in? I think they’re both hungry”

“Yeah I should have”

“Good, this one’s biting my fingers” Alexis says.

“I’ll go and get it”

Shkodran heads to the kitchen and finds chicken and milk. He pours the milk into a bowl and takes them through to the living room.

“Here” He says, putting the bowl of milk carefully on the couch. The dragons happily start lapping at it.

After they’ve both eaten and had enough milk they fall asleep curled up together.

“They look cute” Alexis says.

“They do, I think Suifatm’s worried”

“Me too, will it be ok?”

“It should be”

“Good”

 

Rosemary arrives late at night. The dragons had woken up an hour or so ago and were happily playing with a ball.

“Thanks for coming” Shkodran says, hugging her.

“No problem, how’s it doing?”

“Seems to be alright now, I fed it”

“Good, this must be Alexis”

“Hi” Alexis says, from behind Shkodran.

“Nice to meet you”

“You too”

They lead Rosemary through to the living room where she crouches down next to the dragons.

“Remember me?” She says to Suifatm, who immediately covers her in glitter “I think you do”

She checks over the other dragon thoroughly. 

“He’s a boy. They are more common. And he seems ok, it looks like food did him good” She says.

“Good”

“So, do you want to keep him?”

“I better not, 2 might be a little much”

“Good point. I’ll take him back to Germany then, thanks for calling me”

“No problem, want to stay over?” Shkodran asks.

“I’d love to but I really better get back to my dragons”

“Of course, well feel free to visit any time”

“Thanks, you too. I’m sure the dragons would love to see you”

“I will, next time we have a break”

“Good. Nice to meet you too Alexis”

“You too” Alexis says.

Rosemary carefully picks up the dragon causing Suifatm to chirp.

“It’s ok, your friend is going to Germany, where you used to live” Shkodran tells him.

“You’ll see him soon I’m sure” Rosemary says “Goodbye”

“Bye”

Shkodran shows her out and then returns to the living room where it appears Suifatm is crying. Shkodran sits next to him and strokes him.

“it’s ok” Shkodran says then gets an idea “It’s late but Granit might still be awake. Want to go and see your husband?”

Suifatm chirps.

“Ok” Shkodran says. He gets his phone out and dials his friend.


	22. In Which Someone Steals Kaxah

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A dragon thief steals Kaxah but they get him back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> enjoy :D

Shkodran had heard reports of dragon thieves in the area for a couple of weeks now. He was scared, it had happened before in Italy but Suifatm had been fine then. He only hopes he’s fine now.

He’d told Granit straight away of course and both were keeping a careful eye on their dragons.

On Tuesday they have training and Granit’s been debating for an hour whether it would be safer to take Kaxah with him or leave him in the house. Eventually he decides to take him to training, at least then he could keep an eye on him.

When they get there Granit makes sure to tell Kaxah to stay in view and not to go with any strange people, it seems the dragon listens so Granit feels better leaving him at the sidelines. Plus, Suifatm was there too.

Granit and Shkodran glance over at their dragons occasionally but they seem ok. But then they get too into the training session, but the dragons would be fine right?

Suddenly Suifatm comes flying over at top speed, screeching loudly.

“What’s wrong?” Shkodran asks, the dragon keeps on screeching.

“Where’s Kaxah?” Granit asks, looking around for his dragon “I can’t see him.”

“Maybe he went inside” At this, Suifatm starts screeching again.

“Will he be ok?”

“He should be, he’s a clever dragon”

Thankfully there’s not long left. At the end Granit rushes inside looking all over for his dragon but he just can’t see him. After asking around, a man was seen in a ski mask with a dragon following him.

“I think they took him” Granit tells Shkodran.

“Who?” 

“The dragon thieves”

“Oh”

“What do we do?” Granit looks close to tears.

“We’ll find him don’t worry, Suifatm will be able to trace his scent. We’ll call the police too”

“Thanks”

“Go find Oli, he’ll be able to help as well”

“Sure”

Granit goes off to find his boyfriend whilst Shkodran calls the police. He explains the situation to Olivier who is only too happy to help. Alexis overhears them too and offers to join their little search party.

“They’ll send someone to look for him” Shkodran tells them once he’s off the phone.

“Thanks” Granit can’t stop the tears from falling. Olivier pulls him close.

“it’s ok, we’re going to find him ok?” Olivier tells him. It seems Suifatm’s upset as well, making distressed noises.

“We need your help” Shkodran says to his dragon “Will you help us?”

Suifatm chirps.

“Thank you, can you lead us to Kaxah?”

Granit bursts into tears again at his dragon’s name.

“Hey, why don’t you go home?” Shkodran says to him.

“But Kaxah…”

“Me and Alexis will find him, you two just go home alright?”

Granit nods, realising he wouldn’t be much use in his current state.

“Come on” Olivier says to his boyfriend. He leads him to his car and they drive home.

“Right” Shkodran says to Alexis and Suifatm “Where do we start?”

Suifatm chirps and starts to leave.

“Wait for us” Shkodran says, they grab their bags and head to Shkodran’s car.

They get in and follow the little dragon for a few miles until they’re in an area they don’t recognise. Eventually Suifatm stops outside a house and chirps.

“This could be it” Shkodran says.

“Let’s hope it is” Alexis agrees.

They get out of the car and head to the house. They try the door but there’s no answer. Suifatm chirps and leads them around the back to the basement.

“Hello?” Shkodran calls but there’s no response. 

Suifatm takes off flying inside.

“Be careful” Shkodran says, as the enter themselves they can hear crying. “Kaxah?”

“There he is!” Alexis says, pointing to a small cage at the back of the room.

“It’s ok, we’re here now. Can you see a key anywhere?”

Alexis looks around the room whilst Shkodran and Suifatm comfort the crying dragon.

“Here!” Alexis says coming over with the key. He uses it to unlock the cage, Kaxah flies out straight away. Suifatm immediately cuddles up to him.

“We better get going” Shkodran says “Just in case”

They quickly leave the basement and all but run to the car. They decide it would probably be safer for the dragons to ride with them. Shkodran drives and Alexis sits in the back with the two dragons who curl up together.

“You’ll see Granit soon” Alexis says to Kaxah “He was worried about you”

It’s a relief when they arrive at Granit’s house. They all get out and go knock on the door.

“You found him!” Olivier says when he answers.

“Told you we would” Shkodran says.

Olivier leads them inside.

“Look who’s back” He says to his boyfriend.

Kaxah immediately flies over to Granit and curls up on his lap, purring happily.

“I was so scared” Granit says, stroking the little dragon “Thank you, so much”

“No problem” Shkodran says, “I’m glad we have him back now”

“Me too. Why don’t you both stay for dinner?”

“Thanks, that would be nice”

“I can make it” Olivier offers, noticing the dragon almost asleep on Granit’s knees.

“Thanks”

Suifatm soon joins Granit and Kaxah on the couch as well, curling up next to the sleeping dragon. Granit’s just happy to have his dragon back, he’d definitely keep a better eye on him in future.


	23. In Which They Get A Surprise At The North London Derby

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> spurs dragons?!!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks to eafay for the idea :D
> 
> also it's now the 25th here so happy christmas to those who celebrate, if not, happy monday :D
> 
> Enjoy :')

A few weeks later and the dragon thieves had been caught and arrested, much to everyone’s relief. Even so, Granit and Shkodran were hesitant to leave their dragons at home.

So that being said they were at another match today. Not just any match, the north London derby. It promised to be a good atmosphere so they were hoping their dragons would enjoy it.

They arrive early as normal but this time when they go to the special dragon room there’s a surprise. 2 dragons are there dressed in spurs scarves.

“Oh” Shkodran says.

“I wonder who they belong to?” Granit asks.

Their dragons are curious, walking over to the spurs dragons. They seem friendly enough though so they’re soon chirping at each other.

“Lial, I’m back” Dele Alli says, appearing behind them.

“Oh, that’s who they belong to” Shkodran says.

“Just Lial, the other belongs to my cousin”

“You know Rosemary too?”

“Rosemary? I got her from a guy up north”

“Oh, explains a lot”

“Well it seems like they’re getting on ok” Dele notices.

“Yeah, we’ll see you on the pitch”

“See you”

Shkodran and Granit leave the room, confused.

“I didn’t realise anyone else around here had one” Shkodran says.

“No, neither did I”

“Wow. I hope Suifatm and Kaxah are ok”

“They seemed to get on alright”

“They did”

They walk to the changing room to start getting changed, ready for the match.

When they walk out onto the pitch they glance towards the dragon’s room but it seems they’re fine, they try not to think about it and get on with the game.

It goes well with Arsenal winning 2-0. At the end all the dragons fly down onto the pitch and start playing with the ball.

“Come on, I want to go” Dele says to his dragons.

“Good game?” Granit offers, extending a hand to shake.

“Good game” Dele agrees, shaking his hand.

“When did you get your dragon anyway?” Shkodran asks.

“A few weeks ago, my cousin’s had one for years so I decided to get one too”

“Good. They are a nice companion”

“They are, we better get going”

“Sure”

Suifatm and Kaxah are still playing with the ball so Shkodran and Granit go and shake the hands of other players

“Dele Alli has a dragon?” Mesut asks them.

“Yeah, that was meant to be our thing” Shkodran says.

“Don’t worry, your dragons are cooler”

“Thanks”

“Where are they?”

“Playing”

“We should play with them”

A group of the players head over and have a kickabout with the dragons for a while until Alexis and Olivier are whining at their boyfriends to leave.

“Come on” Shkodran says to the dragons “We can play more later”

The dragons whine but follow them. They put the ball back and head to the changing room.


	24. In Which Kaxah Knows How To Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Granit takes Kaxah to the arsenal christmas party

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> enjoy :')

“Oh god I look a mess” Granit says looking into the mirror in the hall.

“Stop it, you look fine” Olivier assures him.

“Look at my hair”

“Your hair’s fine, my hair on the other hand…”

“Stop it guys, you both look fine” Taulant says “But we really need to get going”

“Shit” Granit says, checking his watch “Let’s go, come on Kaxah” 

The dragon looks up from where he’s currently napping and yawns.

“You’re not that tired already” Granit says, the dragon lets out a sigh “Fine then, I’ll carry you”

Kaxah chirps happily and flies into Granit’s arms.

They all head out to the car and get in and Olivier drives them to the restaurant. They were going to the arsenal Christmas party tonight and were excited about it.

They arrive, park up and get out, going to greet their teammates and their partners. Kaxah seems to have woken up a bit now, he’s flying all over the restaurant chirping and getting glitter everywhere.

Granit, Olivier, and Taulant find their places at one of the many tables they had booked out and look through the menu.

“Kaxah” Granit says “I’ll get you some chicken if you behave”

Kaxah chirps and curls up near his human’s feet.

“Good boy”

They all order their food and sit waiting. Kaxah seems to be getting restless though, pacing around and chirping.

“Are you looking for your husband?” Olivier realises.

“Shkodran’s ill” Granit tells his dragon “We can see them tomorrow”

Kaxah seems to understand because he goes back to sitting by Granit’s feet looking sad. He cheers up quite a lot when his chicken arrives. When he’s finished he even walks round the tables looking for extra food.

“Here you go” Mesut says, holding out a small piece of chicken. Kaxah eats it and chirps, as if thanking him. “You’re welcome, don’t tell Suifatm”

And then Kaxah’s on his way again begging for more food.

“Anyone would think I don’t feed you” Granit laughs as Aaron throws a potato for the dragon to catch.

When everyone’s finished their meals some of them get up to dance. Kaxah of course joins them, he flies over and chirps at Granit, asking him to join them.

“You really want me too?” Granit asks.

More chirps.

“Ok then, come on guys” He says to his brother and boyfriend.

“No way” Taulant says “You know I don’t dance”

“Boring, Oli?”

Olivier shakes his head “Sorry babe, I’m too full”

“Fine, come on Kaxah, at least we know how to have fun”

Olivier and Taulant watch as Granit and Kaxah head to the dancefloor and start dancing, neither are very good but they seem too happy to care.

“Look at them” Olivier shouts above the music “They just don’t care”

“They don’t, we should join them later”

“We should”

“But this is good, I wanted to talk to you”

“What?”

“I wanted to…come outside”

Taulant leads Olivier out the back of the restaurant where it’s quieter.

“I just wanted to talk” Taulant says.

“Sure, what’s up?”

“You and Granit. I’m happy for you guys, but if you hurt him you’ll have me to answer to”

“I know, I won’t I promise. I love him too much for that”

“Good. I know I can trust you” Taulant says, pulling Olivier in for a hug.

“You can I swear, I think Kaxah would hurt me too, he’s awfully protective”

“I can tell”

“We better get back in their anyway”

“We better had”

They head back inside where Granit and Kaxah are still dancing.

“Come on” Taulant says, dragging Olivier to the dancefloor.

Olivier wraps his arm around Granit, taking him by surprise.

“Hey” Granit says, turning around to kiss him.

“Hey”

They dance together for a while until Kaxah’s getting tired, then they get drinks and sit at the side.

“It’s been a fun night” Granit says, stroking his dragon.

“It has” Olivier and Taulant agree.

By the time they’ve finished their drinks Kaxah’s asleep, lying across the brothers.

“We better get him home” Granit says.

“We better had” Olivier agrees.

Granit carefully picks up his dragon and they all head out to the car after saying goodbye to their teammates. Olivier drives, Taulant sits up front and Granit’s in the back with Kaxah. Olivier checks the road’s clear and they all set off home.


	25. In Which Kaxah Helps Olivier Propose

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks so much to Eafay for help with this chapter, you're the best :D
> 
> Enjoy :D

Olivier and Granit’s relationship was going well, very well in fact. Olivier had moved into Granit’s house a few months ago and that had only strengthened their relationship.

Olivier wanted to take it to the next level though. He wanted to propose. It had been something he’d been thinking of for a few weeks now, he’d even started looking at rings, but now he was definite. This was what he wanted.

He wondered how Kaxah would react though, he knew how much Granit meant to him, and how much he meant to Granit too.

One day when they’re home alone in the house Olivier puts the dragons favourite film on and they sit on the couch together.

“Kaxah” Olivier says, getting the dragon’s attention “I wanted to…I was going to propose to your human. Would that be ok?”

Kaxah immediately chirps and lets out glitter.

Oliver laughs “Thank you”

Even so he doesn’t know how he’s going to do it. It’s not until the next week Kaxah makes up his mind for him. They’re all sitting around the living room not really doing much. Olivier was worried though, he had the ring with him. Should he do it now? He know he should wait for a special occasion but he just wants to get it out of the way.

Kaxah notices the look on his face and curls up to him. Olivier strokes the dragon and tries to calm himself.

“He’s really starting to like you” Granit says.

“I know, I really like him too”

It’s only then Olivier notices what Kaxah’s doing, he’s digging through his coat pocket. His coat pocket where the ring was.

“Kaxah” He hisses, the dragon looks at him, chirps, and carries on. Was he doing this on purpose? Olivier sighs and gives up. It looked like he’d be proposing today after all.

Finally Kaxah gets the ring out of Olivier’s pocket, passing it to him.

Olivier swallows. It was time. He clears his throat and gets down on one knee. By now Granit had turned to look at him with a look of surprise on his face.

“Granit” Olivier says “Will you marry me?”

“Yes! Of course” Granit says.

Olivier breathes a sigh of relief and puts the ring on his boyfriend-no, fiance’s finger.

“Thank you” Olivier says, leaning into kiss Granit.

Kaxah goes mad, flying round the room and breathing glitter everywhere, including over the happy couple.

“I had no idea” Granit says, still grinning like an idiot.

“Yeah, we kept it quiet”

“You did. Wait, Kaxah knew?”

“Yeah, I even asked him if it was alright”

“What did he say?”

“I wouldn’t have asked if he wasn’t ok with this” Olivier tells him.

“Wow, thank you”

“No problem babe”

“So, where will we have the wedding?”

“Let’s not think about that now, Mesut can help anyway. Let’s just relax”

“Good idea” Granit says “Shit”

“What?”

“We better call our families”

“Good idea”

Granit reaches to kiss Olivier again and they both reach for their phones.


	26. In Which They Celebrate New Year

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry if this is shit, i currently have the worst writer's block but! i'm not sleeping tonight (due to anxiety...yey...) so i might as well do something productive! i tried at least!
> 
> i was gonna write this the other day eh
> 
> enjoy!! :D
> 
> dragons make everything better tho :D

Before Shkodran knows what’s happening it’s the holiday season. He knew from experience Suifatm loved this time of year, as did he of course. 

They don’t really do much, family visit, but by new year they’ve gone home. He sees Suifatm staring out the window whining one day and gets an idea.

“Shall we invite your husband and Granit over for new year?” Shkodran asks.

Suifatm chirps, so that settled it then. A phone call later and Granit agrees to it, Kaxah seems excited by the idea as well.

 

New year’s eve rolls around soon enough and Granit and Kaxah arrive at Shkodran’s house at 9pm. As soon as Shkodran opens the door Kaxah flies into the house, straight to Suifatm.

“Well someone’s excited” Shkodran says “Come in”

“Thanks”

“I have fireworks for later, and snacks”

“Sounds good”

They walk into the living room where the dragons are play fighting.

“Look at them, they missed each other” Shkodran says.

“I think they did”

“Well, we could watch a film”

“Sure”

“You can choose”

“Thanks”

Granit goes and browses the DVD’s and eventually settles on one.

“Good choice” Shkodran says, it puts it on and they sit watching. The dragons were still playing, getting glitter everywhere. Shkodran sees and just sighs “Typical”

“I can help you clean tomorrow”

“Thanks, I imagine there’ll be a lot by the time the nights over”

“Me too”

By halfway through the film the dragons seemed to have tired themselves out, they curl up together in front of the fire. 

 

“Should we wake them?” Shkodran asks just before midnight.

The first few fireworks going off seem to wake them anyway. Kaxah lets out a screech which in turn wakes Suifatm.

“I forgot he doesn’t like them” Granit says as his dragon flies to him and curls up on his knee “It’s ok”

Suifatm flies over to them as well and tries to comfort the scared dragon.

“It’s alright” Granit says “It’ll be over soon I promise”

“We were gonna set off fireworks” Shkodran remembers.

“Yeah, he’ll be ok if it’s outside”

“Shall we do it now?”

“Might as well”

Granit moves Kaxah to the couch and Shkodran covers him with a blanket then the two humans head outside with the fireworks.

It’s raining slightly but even so they manage to set them off. Suifatm even joins them when he hears what they’re doing.

“Happy new year” Shkodran says.

“Let’s hope it’s a good one” 

Suifatm lets out more glitter, getting it all over Granit and Shkodran who just laugh.

“I hope you brought more clothes” Shkodran says.

“I did don’t worry”

“You’re welcome to use the shower as well”

“Thanks”

Soon it’s getting cold so they head inside. Granit goes straight to his dragon who is thankfully asleep.

“Is he ok?” Shkodran asks.

“Asleep”

“Good. Tired?”

“A little”

“We should go to bed”

“That would be good”

“Will he be ok down here?” Shkodran asks.

“I think Suifatm will stay with him”

“Good, they should be fine”

Granit strokes the dragons before he and Shkodran head up to bed.


	27. In Which Kaxah Misses Olivier

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> don't we all? :(

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i've been meaning to write more for this fic for ages but writers block and mental illness happened but finally! another chapter!
> 
> enjoy :D

After a few months, Olivier, Granit, and Kaxah had gotten into a good routine of living together. Sure they all had annoying habits but overall things were good. 

But then Olivier’s leaving. 

Granit’s surprised when he first hears the rumours. He still believes his fiancé would stay, but he doesn’t.

After a long conversation he feels slightly better. And he will still be in London. Just not in the same house anymore. 

“It won’t change things will it?” Granit asks as they stand in Olivier’s new house.

“Course not, we’re still getting married”

“I know, it’ll be strange”

“It will, I’ll miss you two”

“We’ll miss you too”

Kaxah chirps in agreement and rubs himself against Olivier’s legs. Olivier reaches to stroke him.

“We better get going” Granit says “It’s getting late”

“It is, I’ll see you on Saturday though right?”

“Of course”

“Good”

Olivier leans in to kiss him and Kaxah chirps and lets out glitter like always.

“Sorry about that” Granit says when they break apart.

“It’s fine, it makes it feel more like home”

“See you then”

“See you”

“Come on Kaxah”

Kaxah seems reluctant to leave but finally follows Granit.

 

Over the next week or so they get used to not having Olivier around, to an extent at least. Granit missed him badly, and it seemed Kaxah did too. Granit had even caught him staring at a picture of Olivier.

Granit had seen Olivier a few times, their schedules clashed but they made do. Even meeting for half an hour here or ten minutes there.

Kaxah had seen him once, when Olivier had came over. He’d gone mad and covered him in glitter and then cried when he left.

“I’m sorry” Granit had told him “I miss him too”

Kaxah understood his friend had gone away and he’d only get to see him occasionally and it made him sad. He liked his friend, and he liked how happy he made his human. Olivier had told him before he left to keep Granit company and make sure he was ok, and Kaxah took this responsibility very seriously, barely leaving his human’s side some days. 

 

One night Olivier can’t sleep. It was mainly nerves from being new at Chelsea but he was also missing his fiancé. 

He gets his phone out and stares at the lock screen for a few minutes. It was a picture of Granit and Kaxah he’d taken a few months ago, when he’d first moved in with Granit. Neither Granit nor the dragon had realised he was taking the photo, but even so it was a good picture.

He wants to call Granit but it’s 2am, he’d be asleep. He puts his phone back and sighs.

Olivier doesn’t know how much time as past when he hears familiar chirps outside the window.

“Kaxah?” He wonders. He gets out of bed, flicks the light on, and opens the window, sure enough the dragon flies in. “What are you doing here?”

Kaxah chirps, as if to say ‘I miss you’.

“I miss you too” Olivier says “But you should get back before Granit realises you’re missing”

Kaxah chirps sadly.

“Ok but you need to leave before Granit wakes up ok?”

More chirps in agreement. Olivier sits on the bed next to the dragon who rubs up next to him and eventually settles on his lap. Olivier smiles, he did miss this.

“We should go to bed” He says eventually.

Kaxah stands up and settles down on one side of the bed. Olivier turns the light off and gets into bed himself.

“Night” He says, but it seems the dragon’s already asleep.

He falls asleep straight away this time.


	28. in which the dragons enjoy the snow

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's so cold send help

As soon as Shkodran gets out of bed the cold hits him. He shivers as he reaches for the nearest hoodie. He really needed to stop sleeping shirtless in winter.

There’s a strange glow coming from outside and when he opens the curtains he can see snow. It’s everywhere, at least a couple of inches thick.

He head downstairs to make coffee and put the heating on. He notices snow trails all over the bottom floor.

“Suifatm?” He asks, realising it had probably something to do with the little dragon.

He hears chirping and sees the dragon waiting by the fridge, still covered in snow. Shkodran takes a teatowel and wipes him down with it before getting him his breakfast. Then he locks the back door and boils the kettle.

He keeps a careful eye on his phone, just in case training was cancelled but no such luck. So at half 9 he finds himself walking to the car ready to go. Suifatm was going with him of course, Shkodran even offered for him to go in the car in case it was too cold but the dragon refused.

By the time Shkodran gets to training the pitch is clear of any snow. There are just piles of it at the side which Kaxah is rolling in. Suifatm joins him straight away.

“He’s been doing that all morning” Granit laughs.

“I think Suifatm was last night” Shkodran says “There was snow all over the house”

“Typical dragons”

“Maybe we should take them to the park later”

“Good idea”

Soon training starts so Shkodran and Granit jog over to the rest of the group. It seems the dragons are too distracted by the snow to notice anyway.  
“Don’t get too cold” Shkodran calls to the dragons.

The snow starts partway through the session and everyone’s feeling it, even wrapped in a hundred and one layers like Shkodran and Granit were.

The dragons seemed to be loving it though, it appeared they were having the time of their lives, rolling around and flicking snow at each other, and any player who got too close.

By the end of the session even they look cold though. They fly over to their humans shivering.

“I knew you were going to regret it” Shkodran says, taking his hoodie off and wrapping Suifatm in it. Granit does the same for Kaxah.

“I take it going to the park’s out”

“Yeah, how about a nice film in front of the fire?”

“Sounds great”


	29. in which taulant gets a dragon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ayy long time no writing! i guess i should really write the wedding but that seems like so much effort :p
> 
> thanks to Eafay for this idea :D it's based on something she wrote for me a few months ago!! <3
> 
> so enjoy everyone!!
> 
> ooh tw for mentions of depression!!

Taulant was feeling down again and he didn’t know why. Well, he did. Depression. A chemical imbalance in his brain. He was fed up of it. It always followed the same pattern. He’d get depressed for a few months, everything would just seem hopeless, but then something would happen and he’d be happy again and he’d think that was it. But then a few months later the depression would return.

He saw a therapist every so often, not so much when he was feeling ok but it would be weekly when he was having an episode. He makes a mental note to call her later to ask if he can have an appointment this week.

He does and thankfully she can see him the next day. He also gets another idea. One of the things his therapist had made him realise is that his depression was worse when he was alone for a long time. He’d thought about getting a pet for a while but he didn’t know what. Cats and dogs seemed so much effort, especially when he could barely get out of bed somedays.

Then he thought. What about a dragon? They were pretty self sufficient from what Granit had told him, so long as he had chicken in. And Granit had told him how Suifatm helped Shkodran with his anxiety as well.

This idea perked him up quite a bit. He reaches for his phone and dials his brother.

“Hey” Granit says “How’ve you been?”

“Good. Well, not good. But I had an idea”

“What’s wrong? What idea?”

“Same old shit. Anyway, how do I get a dragon?”

“There’s a lady in hamburg called Rosemary. I’ll send you her details”

“Thanks” Taulant says “I just thought it might help”

“Yes, they do. Kaxah always helps me when I’m down”

“Good, thank you”

“No problem, I’ll text you now”

“Thanks, bye”

“Bye”

Taulant hangs up and smiles. True to his word, Granit texts a few minutes later with a phone number for Rosemary and her address.

Nervous now, Taulant dials the number.

Rosemary’s very friendly as it turns out and is happy for Taulant to visit the next day. He thanks her, hangs up, and immediately starts looking for flights to Germany. 

 

The next day he arrives in Hamburg at midday. He’s too excited for lunch so gets a taxi straight away. It takes a little while and he’s getting impatient but soon they pull up in front of a house. Taulant pays the driver and gets out. 

He adjusts his bag and goes to knock on the door.

“Taulant!” Rosemary greets him enthusiastically “Come in”

She leads him around the back of the house to where the dragons are.

“Wow” Taulant says.

“This one here” Rosemary says, stroking the eye ridges of a green dragon “His name is Haxak, he looks like your brother’s dragon don’t you think?”

“Hi Haxak” Taulant says, stroking the dragon carefully.

Haxak chirps happily and a stream of orange glitter flew out of his nostrils making Taulant laugh.

“He clearly likes you” Rosemary says.

“I like him too”

“Good. He’s all yours”

“Thank you, how much?”

“Free”

“Really?”

“Yes, I know you’ll look after him”

“Wow, thank you”

Taulant and Haxak set off back to Basel shortly after, Haxak seems comfortable around Taulant straight away, curling up on his lap on the plane and in the taxi.

As soon as they get home Taulant shows the dragon around his house and after a little chicken Haxak curls up on the rug and falls asleep.

Taulant smiles and takes a picture and sends it to Granit and his teammates. His teammates are all excited and make plans to come around and see him for themselves. Granit had shown the picture to Kaxah who had gone mad chirping and covering Granit’s poor phone in glitter. 

“We’ll have to come and visit soon” He’d said when they spoke on the phone later that evening.

“We’d like that” Taulant agreed.

After he hangs up, Taulant checks Haxak who’s still asleep on the floor.

“Goodnight” He says, hoping the dragon will be ok overnight. Then he goes up to bed himself.

 

Taulant had been feeling great ever since getting his dragon but when he wakes up the next morning the depression hits him like a ton of bricks. He lies there in bed and sighs. At least he didn’t have anything to do today.

Before he knows what’s happening he feels something sit on him and sees a little green face peeking over the covers, looking at him inquisitively.

“Good morning” Taulant says “Did you sleep well?”

Haxak chirps and snuggles up against Taulant who can’t help but smile. 

“Thank you” He mutters and Haxak chirps.

They stay like that for awhile until Taulant’s mustered up enough energy to get out of bed.

“Come on” He says to the dragon “Let’s get some breakfast”


	30. in which granit and kaxah meet haxak

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks so much to Eafay for help with this chapter <3 <3
> 
> this is set in the future but honestly this fic isn't in order anymore anyway...
> 
> enjoy everyone!

“Are you ready?” Granit asks his dragon who was currently finishing off his croissant. Kaxah looks up and chirps happily.

They were off to Switzerland ahead of the world cup. The team were meeting there to go to Russia together. Of course Granit was going a few days early to see his family, and finally meet Haxak. He’d explained all this to his own dragon and he seemed pretty excited by the whole thing.

Granit picks up his bag and puts the croissant wrapper in the bin before they start walking to the gate.

“You have to behave on the plane” Granit says “No glitter, or loud chirping ok?”

Kaxah chirps in agreement and rubs up against Granit’s leg.

“Good boy”

There are children at the gate and of course they’re excited to see a real live dragon and of course Kaxah’s happy to get so much attention. Thankfully the children laugh when Kaxah lets out a stream of glitter.

“Sorry” Granit says to their parents before gesturing to Kaxah to sit on his lap.

Thankfully boarding starts soon after. Granit had chosen first class, he didn’t think Kaxah would like sitting so close to everyone. There aren’t too many other people in first class so once they’re in the air Granit feels safe to let the dragon fly round a bit. An air hostess even brings him some chicken and makes a big fuss of him but Kaxah behaves, no glitter this time.

They’re both happy when they’re on the ground. Once they’re off the plane Kaxah stretches his wings and lets out chirps and glitter, much to the delight of the other passengers.

He gets a bit impatient at baggage claim. In fact they both do, but soon Granit has his case so they can go through passport control and then into the main airport to find Taulant.

They see him straight away. It’s hard to miss him with a dragon. Kaxah spots the dragon straight away and flies over, chirping happily.

Granit laughs and walks over himself.

“I don’t think we need to worry about them being friends” He says, hugging his brother.

“No, although we better prepare for the amount of glitter”

“we better had, he was good on the plane though”

“Good. How was the flight?”

“Alright, boring. Same as ever”

Taulant laughs “We better get going, it’s almost dinner time”

“I hope you have chicken in”

“Just stocked up”

“Good”

They start walking towards the car park with the dragons flying behind them, still chirping at each other.

“They really do look alike” Granit notices.

“They do, Rosemary text and said they’re brothers”

“That’s nice”

“It is. Do you guys want to come in the car?” Taulant asks the dragons. They both chirp and keep flying “Haxak will show him the way”

“Good” 

The humans get in the car and they set off. Granit’s a little worried about Kaxah so keeps looking out the window for him but it seems Haxak is taking care of him.

When they get back to the house the dragons seem tired. It was a 40 minute drive back to the house after all.

As soon as they get inside the dragons take over the couch and are soon snoring.

“I take it you don’t want any chicken then” Taulant teases. The dragons open their eyes at the mention of their favourite food. “I thought so, I’ll just go and get it” He turns to Granit “And then I’ll start on ours”

“Sure, I can give you a hand”

“Thanks”

Taulant goes to the kitchen and puts chicken on two plates. He takes it to the living room and puts them both on the floor. The dragons immediately go over to it and start eating.

“What do you feel like eating?” Taulant asks his brother.

“I don’t know”

“Typical” Taulant laughs “Come on, let’s see what I have in”


	31. in which arsenal get knocked out of the europa league

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> gah i'm still mad! and gutted for Lolo oh man :'( but dragons make everything better :D
> 
> thanks to eafay again for the inspiration for this :D
> 
> also this reaaaaaally isn't in order any more...oops

To give arsenal credit, they did keep fighting until the end. It just wasn’t enough. They all silently walk off the pitch into the changing room. 

Granit keeps his head down, he just wanted to get home and see his dragon. Shkodran felt the same way about Suifatm. He planned to stay in bed as long as possible the next day, just hugging his dragon.

The ride to the airport seems to take an age but finally they’re there. All the team are glad they were flying back that night, somehow staying in Madrid would make the whole thing worse.

On the plane most of the squad fall asleep, just eager to be home to their families. Granit can’t sleep though, he keeps replaying the match in his mind, thinking of what he’d have done differently. It was too late for that now.

He just wants his dragon and not to face the world for at least a week. He sniffs as a tear runs down his face. He was frustrated and when he was frustrated, he cried. 

He looks out of the window and wills the journey to go faster. He can’t even tell where they are, still in spain maybe?

“Granit?”

He turns around at Shkodran’s voice.

“Are you ok?” Shkodran sounds so concerned.

“We lost. We’re out” Granit says flatly.

“I know, but that wasn’t your fault alright?”

“What if i…” Granit sighs “I should’ve done better”

“I think we all feel that way, don’t be so hard on yourself”

“I’ll try”

“Good. Why don’t you sleep?”

“I can’t”

“Listen to music? It’s better than thinking hey?”

“Yeah, I know”

“Will you be ok if I sleep?”

“I’ll be fine” Granit assures him.

“Wake me up if that changes yeah?”

Granit nods and goes back to looking out of the window. It looks like they’re over water now, the only lights coming from ships down below.

Maybe music would be a good idea. Granit reaches for his headphones and shoves them in his ears, settling for the loudest song on his phone to drown out his thoughts. 

It sort of works, he’s feeling a little better by the time they land at Luton. Everyone else is too tired to talk and he doesn’t blame them. They simply drift through baggage claim and onto the coach. 

Granit manages to nap on the way back to the emirates but that leaves him feeling even more tired and confused when they finally get there. Oh well, he’d be home soon.

He mumbles a quick goodbye to his teammates and jumps in his car. Again it’s loud music and soon he’s home. 

Kaxah’s by the door waiting for him. 

“Hey” Granit says, reaching to stroke him “Do you want some chicken?”

He walks through to the kitchen and gets some chicken out for his dragon who eats it happily. Then he goes up to bed.

Kaxah could sense something was wrong because as soon as he’s finished eating he follows his human upstairs. The bedroom door’s shut so he scratches to be let in. Granit obliges and soon he’s lying in bed with a concerned dragon on top of him.

Stroking Kaxah does help him feel better, especially when he starts purring.

“Thank you” Granit whispers and the dragon chirps.

He can’t sleep though, the match is replaying over in his head. Soon night turns to morning and he’s still lying there. Kaxah’s asleep on top of him and he doesn’t have the heart to move him right now which is probably a good thing considering he wants to punch the nearest surface.

He’s so lost in his thoughts he almost misses his phone ringing. It’s a video call from his brother. He accepts it.

“Hey” Taulant says, Haxak’s there too. Kaxah wakes up at the chirps of the other dragon.

“Hey”

“How are you feeling?”

“How do you think?” Granit sighs.

“I know. I thought you played well though”

“That doesn’t matter now. We’re out”

“I know, but I’m still proud of you”

“Thanks”

“Did you sleep? You sound exhausted”

“No”

“Why don’t you get some rest now then?”

“I don’t think I can” Granit explains.

“Why don’t you go for a walk? It’s better than being alone in bed with your thoughts”

“Yeah, good idea. Kaxah can come too”

“Good, I’ll let you go then. I’ll phone later and see how you are ok?”

“Thanks”

“Sure, have fun”

“You too, bye”

“Bye”

The dragons chirp at each other and then Granit hangs up. 

“Want to go to the park?” He asks his dragon “We should probably have breakfast first”

Kaxah chirps at the word ‘breakfast’ and flies off the bed. 

It was times like this Granit was glad he had Kaxah, he couldn’t simply lie in bed all day being sad. No, he had to look after him.

“Come on then” Granit says “Let’s get some breakfast”


	32. in which the dragons go to huddersfield

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> in honour of it being the last match yesterday :')
> 
> also i feel so crap recently (doctor thinks i have ME fml) so i thought maybe writing would help...it did kinda :p
> 
> enjoy!

The last match of the season was special, not only because it was the last match but it was also Arsene’s last match in charge of arsenal.

Even though the match was in Huddersfield, Shkodran and Granit had decided to take their dragons with them. They’d explained to them it was a special match and they seemed to understand.

Neither dragon particularly liked flying on a plane but they behave on the journey to Yorkshire. Suifatm made a big show of walking up and down the aisle, demanding attention from the other players who were all too happy to give it to him. Mesut had even brought a packet of chicken on board which of course resulted in happy chirps and glitter everywhere. 

Once they touch down at the Leeds-Bradford airport the dragons are tired, whining to be carried.

“I have my case” Granit tells Kaxah who sulks.

“Here” Sead says, opening his arms for the dragon who chirps and cuddles up to him.

“Thanks” 

“No problem, he’s cute”

“He is”

By the time they’re on the coach to the hotel the dragons are asleep so the team make sure to stay quiet so they don’t wake them.

When they get there there’s a team meeting to Shkodran and Granit take their dragon to their room telling them they’d be back soon. They even leave some chicken for them. The dragon’s don’t seem too bothered, just curl up on the beds and go to sleep again.

In fact they sleep for the rest of the evening and the night as well, only waking in the morning when the humans put out more chicken for them. But of course they want to join them at breakfast as well.

“Slow down” Granit laughs as Kaxah finishes yet another plate of croissants and ham. Suifatm was again walking around the tables asking for more food.

“Here you go” Aaron says, passing him some ham. The dragon chirps and rubs up against his hand and then he’s on his way again. Thankfully at this point the team were used to the dragons so knew to get extra food for them.

After breakfast it’s another nap for the dragons whilst their humans get ready to go to the stadium. They wake them up before they set off of course and give them the usual talk “be on your best behaviour and don’t go off with anyone”

Thankfully the John Smith’s stadium has a special room for the dragons which even has some toys in so Shkodran and Granit take their dragons up there first.

When they’re warming up on the pitch they can’t see them in the room though. It’s only a few minutes later they hear chirps.

“There you are” Shkodran says as the dragons come flying towards them. They join the team in warming up and even a few Huddersfield players come over to say hello, and get covered in glitter.

Soon it’s time for the match. The dragons seem reluctant to leave so follow their humans, breathing glitter all over the players when they’re shaking hands.

“We have to play now” Shkodran says to them “You’ll have to go”

The dragons seem reluctant but eventually go over to the sidelines where they entertain Arsene and the subs by doing all manner of flips and of course letting out glitter. It gets worse when Pierre scores, they go mad and even fly over to their humans.

At the end there are special celebrations for Arsene which are made even more special by the dragons covering him in glitter, thankfully he doesn’t mind and strokes them.

Once again all the excitement tires them out so ten minutes later they’re both asleep on the floor of the changing room, not even waking up with all the cheering and shouting.

Soon it’s time to go home on the coach. 

“Come on guys” Granit says, stroking the dragons who glance at him “Do you want to be carried?”

Kaxah chirps and flies into his arms, and Suifatm flies to Shkodran.

“Come on” Granit says “Let’s go home”


	33. a day in the life of taulant and haxak

Taulant’s woken up to his alarm clock. He reaches to switch it off and then shuts his eyes to get another 5 minutes’ rest. It’s not long before he hears chirping and there’s a hungry dragon sitting on top of him.

“Do you want breakfast?” He yawns.

More chirps so he gets out of bed and follows Haxak down to the kitchen. He gets chicken out of the fridge and puts it in a bowl which the dragon immediately flies to.

Whilst Haxak’s eating his breakfast Taulant boils the kettle and puts bread in the toaster. Then he reaches into the cupboard for his antidepressants. It was a new development. After a few bad weeks he’d had enough and broke down to his therapist who had suggested a low dose of sertraline could help. Taulant had been desperate so agreed.

So far it seemed to be working. It made him feel worse for the first week but his therapist told him that was normal so he persevered and after a month he was feeling much better. And of course Haxak was helping a lot too.

The dragon had a habit of tearing up the house if he was bored so to stop it Taulant would take him to the park. He was grateful to the little dragon for getting him out of the house.

Once the dragon’s finished his breakfast he rubs up against Taulant’s legs, demanding to be made a fuss of.

Taulant strokes him whilst drinking his coffee and eating his toast. Haxak even eats some of the crumbs.

Today Taulant has training and the original plan was to take the dragon along but when it’s time to leave Haxak is curled up asleep.

“I’ll see you later” Taulant whispers before leaving the house.

Training goes well but Taulant can’t wait to get home to see his dragon again. By the time he gets back Haxak is awake and entertaining himself by knocking a ball about. There’s also glitter everywhere. 

“I’ve only just finished cleaning the last lot” Taulant moans, but he doesn’t really mind. 

Haxak chirps as if offering an apology and knocks the ball to his human. They play for a few minutes before Taulant’s getting tired. 

“I’ll take you to the park later” He says then realises he should make lunch.

Dragons were only meant to be fed twice a day but Haxak always whined for food whenever Taulant was eating so he gets him a piece of bread which he always loved. Unusual for a dragon.

After lunch Taulant realises just how tired he is. Training, plus the antidepressants which he found made him tired.

“I’m going to have a nap” He tells Haxak who follows him up the stairs.

Haxak curls up next to him on the bed and they nap together for a few hours. Taulant sleeps longer than he meant to and before he knows it Haxak’s waking him up for dinner.

“It’s late” He yawns before getting out of bed. He does feel a bit more awake now though.

He puts his pasta on before giving Haxak some chicken and vegetables. Taulant realised his dragon must get bored of eating the same thing all the time so he tried to add some variety, to varying degrees of success. Haxak did like certain vegetables though. 

Haxak’s long finished his dinner when Taulant’s is ready so he begs for some pasta.

“You greedy thing” Taulant says, shaking his head fondly. He gives him a few pieces though which the dragon seems to enjoy.

After dinner it’s raining.

“I guess we can’t go to the park today” Taulant says “Maybe tomorrow”

Haxak doesn’t seem bothered, he seems invested in whatever’s on the tv. In fact he curls up on Taulant’s lap. Taulant strokes him which results in purring and occasional glitter.

Soon it’s getting late so Taulant checks his diary for what he’s doing the next day. He has a doctor’s appointment in the morning and then a match in the evening and of course he’d be spending lots of time with his dragon in between. He was even thinking of taking him to the match.

At 9 Granit video calls him. They’d normally phone each other but ever since Taulant had gotten Haxak they’d videocall so the dragons could say hi to each other.

Haxak sees Kaxah on the screen and immediately rubs up against it. That’s how the conversation goes. The brothers try to talk but get interrupted every so often by chirps and glitter. Even so they manage to have a decent conversation.

At 10:30 Taulant decides he better go up to bed so he says goodbye to his brother and Kaxah. The dragons of course say goodbye in their own special way, involving chirping and glitter.

“Come on, we better get to bed” Taulant says to his dragon.

Haxak normally slept downstairs but would come to wake Taulant up in the morning.

“Night” Taulant says as the dragon gets settled in his bed. Haxak chirps and shuts his eyes.

Taulant walks upstairs. He has a shower and gets changed before writing in his mood diary. His therapist had suggested he keep one, to keep track of his moods and so on. Once he’s done he checks his phone, replies to a few text messages and then gets into bed.


	34. in which kaxah saves the day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello :) i wrote another fic similar to this chapter but this is better because it has dragons :p 
> 
> enjoyyyyyy and lets just pretend granit and musti are currently in england...in reality kaxah is having a great time with the swiss national team, covering them all in glitter...

Granit hurries down the street eager to get home. Kaxah flies above him chirping every so often as he was tired. They’d just been to visit Shkodran and Suifatm, they’d even taken them to the park which the dragons had loved and then they’d watched the champion’s league final together.

Shkodran and Granit only lived a 15 minute walk away from each other but in the dark it seemed a lot longer. Especially as most of the roads barely had any streetlamps, at least it was still warm.

Granit’s just turned around to check where Kaxah was when something knocks the wind out of him and he’s on the floor. Before he knows what’s happening he feels a blow to his face. He turns and looks to see a group of people running away from him. He stays on the floor trying to catch his breath.

Kaxah had been having a rest but he saw what happened to Granit so immediately flew to him, shielding him with his wings, chirping at him worriedly.

“I’m ok” Granit says, panting slightly.

Kaxah’s frantic, he just knows his human’s been hurt and he needs to get help. That’s when he thinks, Suifatm could help! More specifically, Suifatm’s human. He takes off flying back to Shkodran’s house.

Shkodran and Suifatm were knocking a ball about in the living room when they hear screeching. Suifatm immediately flies to the door with Shkodran quickly following. He’s surprised to see Kaxah outside.

“Are you ok?” Shkodran asks.

Kaxah chirps and does his best to gesture to them to follow him. Suifatm sets off after him leaving Shkodran no choice to go after them.

Kaxah leads them to the street where Granit’s lying, now in an enormous amount of pain.

“What happened?” Shkodran asks “Did you trip?”

Kaxah screeches again.

“These guys…I didn’t see them” Granit explains “It hurts”

“Come on, we’ll get you back to my house and I’ll sort you out”

“Thanks”

Shkodran helps him up and the dragons attempt to help and slowly they make their way back to Shkodran’s house. 

They get Granit sat down on the couch and Shkodran goes to the kitchen to find supplies. Now they’re in the light Granit looks a mess. His face is bruised, his clothes are a mess, and there’s blood creeping through. 

“For your eye” Shkodran says, handing him a bag of frozen peas.

“Thanks” Granit takes them and holds them to his face where it hurts.

“Are you bleeding?”

“I don’t know”

“Want to stay over tonight? I think you should”

“Please, that would be good”

“Sure, why don’t you have a shower”

“Thanks”

They all go upstairs and Shkodran finds Granit something to wear to bed and then shows him to the bathroom. The dragons wait outside the door for him.

Once Granit’s undressed he sees he is bleeding a little and his knees are all scraped up where he fell. He showers quickly as he finds it hurts and then gets changed.

“How are you feeling?” Shkodran asks when Granit reappears.

“Sore still”

“No wonder, are you bleeding?”

“A little”

Granit rolls up the leg of his pants and shows Shkodran his knees.

“That looks sore” Shkodran says and Kaxah immediately starts nudging the wound with his head “He’s trying to help”

“He is, thank you”

Shkodran finds plasters and covers the wounds with them. Then it’s a cup of tea and then bed. The dragons don’t want to leave the injured human so sleep curled up on the bed in the spare room with him.

Kaxah wakes up aware something isn’t right. He can hear his human crying. He walks over to him and curls up on his lap, chirping.

Granit smiles when he sees the dragon and strokes him.

“I’m ok” He says “I just had a bad dream”

Kaxah uses a wing to attempt to wipe Granit’s tears away which makes Granit smile. Then the dragon curls up against him and purrs.

“Thank you” Granit says. By this point the other dragon had woken up and was also curled up against him.

“Everything ok?” Shkodran asks, poking his head around the door.

“I had a bad dream. It’s fine, these two are looking after me”

“Good, hope you can sleep”

“Thanks, you too”

Granit is tired so goes back to sleep soon after. Kaxah sleeps with a wing round him and thankfully he sleeps straight through until morning.


	35. In Which Switzerland Beat Serbia

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MY MAN SCORED!!!!!!!

“I’ll see you after the match” Granit tells Kaxah as he gets him settled on the sidelines “Be good ok?”

Kaxah chirps happily as Granit walks off to join his teammates. Of course those on the bench make a big fuss of him which he loves, resulting in lots of glitter.

The match doesn’t start well for Switzerland, it seems the ball is really in Serbia’s court as it were. Especially when they score in the first 5 minutes.

Kaxah sighs in frustration and flies up and down the sidelines. At halftime Granit comes over to stroke him before disappearing into the changing rooms. Kaxah follows to try and offer some comfort.

Granit’s pleased to see his dragon there and strokes him as the manager explains their game plan for the second half.

The second half gets under way and Kaxah’s nervous, all the swiss fans are nervous. But then it happens! Granit manages to score from outside the penalty area! Kaxah goes mad, doing flips and letting out glitter.

Granit runs over and hugs him quickly before heading back out.

The pressure is off a bit then, a draw would favour Switzerland it was true. It’s all level until just before the end when Xherdan manages to score.

Everyone celebrates. The game was surely won now. Kaxah even flies over to the huddle of swiss players celebrating on the pitch.

Added time passes slowly, all the swiss fans begging the ref to hurry up and blow the whistle. But finally it happens! Switzerland had won!

There’s massive relief and the players on the pitch are hugging each other. Kaxah flies over to Granit chirping and covering him in glitter, as if to say ‘well done’. 

“We did it!” Granit says, hugging the little dragon. 

 

Meanwhile Olivier had been watching the match in his hotel room. He’d been ecstatic when his fiancé had scored, even more so when they’d won. Although seeing Granit and Kaxah made him feel sad. He missed them a lot.

He gives in half an hour at the end of the match before videocalling Granit. Thankfully he answers, face red from excitement and the widest grin Olivier had ever seen.

“Well done!” Olivier says.

“Thank you, I can’t believe it”

Kaxah hears Olivier’s voice and almost knocks Granit’s phone out of his hand.

“Hey Kaxah” Olivier says. Kaxah chirps and lets out glitter “It’s good to see you too”

They chat for a while longer until Granit realises he better get changed.

“I’ll try and come and see you” Olivier says “I might be able to”

“I hope you can, I miss you” Granit sighs.

“I miss you too”

They say their goodbyes and hang up. Granit barely has time to get changed before his cousin’s calling him. And then his brother. And of course Haxak wants to say hi to Kaxah.

The celebrations last all the way back to the hotel. They take over the bar and party until the early hours but their flight home was the next day so that was alright. 

Of course Kaxah makes himself the centre of attention but none of the players mind. They all stroke him and feed him snacks from the bar.

This tires him out so Granit finds him just before he goes up to bed asleep on Yann’s lap, letting out a little glitter when he snored.

“Sorry about that” Granit says.

“It’s fine” Yann assures him “He was excited”

“He was, I’ll take him up to bed now”

“Sure, night. And well done”

“Thanks, you too”

Granit carefully picks up Kaxah and carries him up to their room.


	36. in which switzerland get knocked out of the world cup

The fact that Granit had been so optimistic seemed to make it hurt more. 

‘It’s all your fault’ his thoughts tell him as he walks off the pitch and he can’t help but agree.

Kaxah had seen it all go down from the sidelines and had felt bad for them all, especially his human. Granit doesn’t even go over to him, just walks straight inside. Kaxah immediately flies after him.

“It’s all my fault” Granit says as they reach the changing rooms.

Kaxah chirps and nuzzles up against him, trying to offer comfort. Granit reaches to stroke the dragon and sighs.

“I’m glad you’re here” He says

Soon the others join them, most are sad about the match but some put happy music on, trying to cheer up their teammates. Kaxah even dances making some of them laugh.

On the coach Granit puts his headphones in and leans on the window. Kaxah curls up on his lap and purrs.

“Want some chicken?” Yann asks, his head poking over the headrests.

Kaxah sits up at the mention of chicken.

“Here you go”

Yann holds his hand out and Kaxah eats the chicken happily and then rewards him with glitter.

“It’s not your fault” Yann says to Granit.

“Thanks”

“Look after him” Yann says to the dragon and Kaxah chirps and curls up again.

When they get back to the hotel Granit goes straight upstairs and curls up on his bed. Kaxah curls up next to him and chirps softly.

“I’m fine” Granit says, noting the concerned expression of his dragon “I’ll feel better later”

Soon though Kaxah’s getting hungry. He flies over to the door and chirps.

“You can go, I’m staying here” Granit tells him. Kaxah chirps again “You don’t like going alone do you? Come on then”

It seems the team have cheered up a bit now and are even joking over dinner, thanks to Kaxah mainly who walks around the tables demanding food and attention.

Granit has to admit he feels a bit better by the time they go back upstairs, especially after a long shower.

“Come on then” He says to Kaxah “What do you wanna do now?”

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Chelsea Dragon](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13888611) by [mariothellama](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mariothellama/pseuds/mariothellama)
  * [A Dragon Named Spongebob](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14267868) by [mariothellama](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mariothellama/pseuds/mariothellama)
  * [World Cup Dragons](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14838224) by [FechtarTheDragon (mariothellama)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mariothellama/pseuds/FechtarTheDragon)




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